


The Pack, Trust and Battles

by MidnightsSong



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek Hale, Anal Sex, BAMF Sheriff Stilinski, BAMF Stiles, Derek is a Good Alpha, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Multi, Post-Season/Series 02, Sassy Peter Hale, Scott McCall is a Bad Friend, Sheriff Stilinski Finds Out About Werewolves, Threesome - M/M/M, Violence, accidental necromancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-07-12 06:51:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 122,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7090333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightsSong/pseuds/MidnightsSong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of the warehouse confrontation, Stiles suddenly finds that his life is a very different place. His father has found out the secrets he was keeping and their relationship is stronger than ever. He is being wooed by a ZombieWolf and is an important part of the reformed Hale Pack. </p>
<p>Now he just has to keep them all safe from the Alpha Pack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Stiles dried his face on the towel, and then looked at his face in the mirror taking in the scrape down the left of his face, the black eye and the split lip left from the beating Gerard had given him. He examined his torso trying to see if the bruises he could feel were visible on his body yet. The skin that met his searching look had red marks from the electrical cattle prod that Gerard had used to try and get answers out of Stiles, and the slightest of bruise marks appearing, that from experience he knew were the early signs of the bruises soon to develop.  He looked back at his face, seeing his tired gaze and tried to ignore the bloodshot eyes, the physical evidence of the tears he had shed. 

He sighed sadly and painfully shuffled from the bathroom to his bedroom, hearing only the noises of his father shuffling in his sleep while he walked, and then gently closed the door to his bedroom behind him. He tossed his clothes onto his desk chair and shuffled over to the bed, awkwardly climbing into his bed, wincing as his ribs protested. He reached out and turned off the light, carefully settling on his side, the least painful position he could find.

Today had been the worst day he had experienced since his mother had died. It had gone from the absolute high of scoring the winning goal in the lacrosse game, to the terror of being kidnapped and the pain of being beaten up by the Argent Patriarch. Then he had to watch as the girl he had loved for years, resurrect the boy who had bullied him for years with the power of her love for him. 

It had been devastating to watch, knowing that there was no way now for him to ever to be with Lydia.  The reunion between them had been heart breaking and yet amazing at the same time, witnessing the power that love could generate. He stifled a sob, not wanting to cry anymore, he had cried enough in the shower. Nor did he want to wake his father or aggravate his ribs by crying.

He lay there for what felt like hours, desperately exhausted, yet unable to sleep, feeling shaky and unsafe. Suddenly there was a soft thud on the roof and Stiles knew that a werewolf would soon be climbing through his window. 

A spark of happiness grew in his chest, Scott was finally coming to see if he was alright. He had been shocked and upset that Scott hadn’t even asked what had happened to his face before trailing off behind Alison and her father after the events in the warehouse. He understood that Scott loved Alison, but they had been best friends for as long as Stiles could remember, and he would have liked Scott to show at least some worry about Stiles’ obvious injuries, but instead Scott had been totally focused on Alison. Alison who had known that her grandfather had been torturing two teenagers in the basement, and had probably helped catch them.  Alison who had probably known that Stiles had been taken down there as well, but had been so absorbed in her own pain and anger that she hadn’t cared that her actions had led to the torture and, if Gerard had been able to have his way, the eventual death of at least two of her classmates. 

He had been surprised to note that the only one who had noticed Stiles’ state out of that small group had been Chris Argent, who had looked at him with both guilt and sadness at the visible marks of torture on Stiles. He had given Stiles nod of sad acknowledgement and told him quietly that he had let Erica and Boyd go earlier, before leaving with Scott and Alison.

Stiles hadn’t given the werewolves in the room a chance to talk to him before hightailing it to his jeep and taking off. But as he had left he noted the presence of Peter Hale, who presumably had somehow managed to come back to life.  Since the night of Peter’s death Stiles’ had been trying to ignore the guilt he felt at his involvement in Peter’s death, particularly at his choice to use fire.

It hadn’t taken him long to realise that Peter had suffered greatly while in the coma, that he had probably spent the last six years trapped in an unending cycle of replaying the deaths of his family, and that his actions after waking had been driven by grief and a desire for retribution. He had wondered if instead of fighting Peter, they had helped him, whether the man would have recovered his sanity and the whole series of events could have played out differently. He also had trouble feeling sorry for those that Peter had killed, they had taken part in trapping and burning an entire family alive, and Stiles knew, deep down, that they had deserved what they got.

In Stiles’ eyes Kate Argent, in particular, had deserved her fate. He had done a little research and had discovered that while the Hale Family may have been the first family to be killed using that particular method, they were not the last by any means. Kate had left a trail of burned bodies in her wake.

The window slid open but Stiles didn’t move from his position. He heard a slight noise as the werewolf stepped through the window and then the window sliding closed with barely a sigh.  The werewolf, whoever it was, padded quietly over to the bed and settled on the side.  Stiles knew by know that it wasn’t Scott because the person had been far too quiet and co-ordinated.  Stiles didn’t think it was Derek or Isaac, because both had been injured and bleeding in the warehouse and while they might have healed by know they would still be recovering. It was also unlikely to be Erica or Boyd, as both would have been far too hurt and tired after their treatment at the Argent’s to make it to Stiles’. He suspected that they would hole up somewhere to heal before they headed back to Derek. So that only left one werewolf, Peter.

And as the last time Stiles had interacted with Peter, he had thrown a Molotov cocktail at the man and contributed to his death, he wondered if the wolf was there to take his revenge. He was sure that Peter knew that the Molotov’s had been Stiles idea and after seeing the man early tonight he was slightly worried about possible repercussions, but right now he was far too exhausted to defend himself. However Peter just sat on the side of his bed silently and after a few minutes Stiles felt the man stand and listened to him move quietly across the room.  His desk chair moved and squeaked as Peter sat.

“Go to sleep, Stiles.” Peter was quiet and Stiles heard him crack a book open. Stiles shifted at Peter’s word and couldn’t contain the pained groan that was the result of his movements.

Peter stood and once again moved to sit on the side of Stiles’ bed. Stiles lay frozen, worried about what Peter was going to do. “You’re safe Stiles. I’m not going to hurt you.” A warm hand touched the back of Stiles shoulder cautiously, and when no protest was offered, stroked his shoulder lightly. Stiles soon relaxed into the light petting.

“You don’t hate me?” Stiles’ words were only able to be heard because of Peter’s heightened werewolf hearing.

“No pet. I don’t hate you.” Peter breathed out, “I think you probably did the only thing you could.” He huffed slightly, his body shifting and settling more comfortably on the bed. “I wasn’t anywhere near sane. The fire didn’t only burn my body, but my mind as well.”

Stiles was silent and then shifted minutely pushing into the petting hand and curving his body closer to the older wolf.  In his research binge after Scott was bitten Stiles had learnt that werewolves needed touch to stay healthy. 

He had wondered if that had contributed to Peter’s madness, not only had he lost the majority of his Pack in the fire, but the only survivors had run and left him alone, without Pack support and care.  But at the same time Stiles couldn’t fault Laura on her actions either all she knew was that Hunter’s had killed her Pack and she needed to protect herself and her younger brother.

Peter paused his petting at Stiles’ movement but after a few moments also shifted closer and resumed his petting. “I can’t and won’t feel sorry for my actions, but if I had been sane my actions would have been far more subtle and not drawn the trouble I did.”

Stiles knew that he should ask what Peter meant, but also knew that at the moment he wasn’t ready to deal with any other problems. “You’ll have to tell me what you mean by that later.”

Peter’s hand shifted up to comb through Stiles short hair, “Don’t worry pet, I’ll tell you.”

“Stop calling me pet.”  Stiles muttered.

“Of course precious.”  Stiles growled slightly and Peter huffed in laughter.

Stiles shifted to try and relieve the pain in his ribs. “What did that old man do to you?” Peter growled, shifting away from Stiles so he could inspect his injures. Stiles whined as Peter’s heat shifted away and Peter stroked his hair soothingly, “Don’t worry precious, I’m not going far.” Peter gently turned Stiles and carefully pulled his shirt off. He ran his hands over the marks on Stiles’ body and growled softly, for some reason the growl didn’t frighten Stiles instead it made him feel safe. Peter stood and Stiles turned to watch the man who was quickly stripping off his V-neck and pants, leaving him only in his underwear. Stiles frowned slightly and catching that Peter laughed quietly, “Don’t worry precious, as delicious as you are, this is only for comfort.” He moved closer to the bed, but it was only after Stiles shifted back creating extra space on the bed that he lifted the covers and slid into the bed, gently turning Stiles so that he could curve around the boy as the big spoon.  His hands slid around Stiles in a gentle embrace and Stiles groaned in relief.  Peter was using his special werewolf talent to take his pain away.

“Don’t kill me while I’m sleeping.” Stiles slurred as his body tumbled into sleep.

Peter pressed a gentle kiss to his temple, “Never, precious, never.”

 

*  *  *

 

Stiles woke as his bed mate shifted, the cold touching his skin as Peter climbed out of the bed.  He turned and blearily peeked at Peter, barely able to see in the darkness of the early morning.

“Where are you going?” Peter looked at Stiles, surprised that he was awake.

“I’m just going to the bathroom. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Stiles watched silently as the man strolled across the room and out, clad only in his underwear and hoped his father wouldn’t wake. He was feeling better than before he had gone to sleep, the pain from the bruises was still there, but they were muted, almost like something was blocking his pain centres. 

Peter soon strolled back into the room, and climbed back into the bed. This time they lay on their sides staring at each other.

“Why are you here Peter?”  Stiles asked seriously.

Peter’s eyes glowed blue for a second, “I could smell the blood on you at the warehouse and knew that ramming the kanima with your jeep didn’t caused it, nor did it cause the marks on your face.” Stiles looked away from the intense stare. “What happened Stiles?”

“Gerard.” Stiles’ voice was flat and emotionless. “He decided to throw another distraction into the plan.”

Peter growled and shifted closer to Stiles, a hand coming up to rest lightly on Stiles hip. “His men grabbed me from the lacrosse game at school, blindfolded me, and shoved me into a SUV. All the way to the Argent place, they talked about how they couldn’t wait to have a go with me after Gerard was done, and how they were looking forward to killing the wolves.” Stiles closed his eyes and leaned forward to rest his forehead against Peter’s chest avoiding his eyes.  Peter wrapped his arms around Stiles, pulling him closer to his body so that they were touching along almost the entire line of his body. “You know at first I was almost glad when we got to the Argent place.”  He mused, “At least I wouldn’t have to hear them talking anymore.  But then I found Erica and Boyd, Gerard had them strung up and was electrocuting them.” Peter rumbled in anger, and Stiles suppressed a sob at the memory. “I tried to get them down, but couldn’t.” He shuddered slightly and Peter cupped his face tilting it up so that their eyes could meet.

“I know, precious.  You’re not the type to leave others to suffer.” A smirk flickered across his face, “Unless, of course, they deserve it.”

Stiles smiled shakily at Peter, “They didn’t deserve it.” He looked down, “Even if they ran away from their Alpha.”

“You’re right. They didn’t deserve it. They’re just young, foolish and scared. I guess we’ll have to go and rescue them.”

“Mr Argent let them go.”

“Hmm, really?” Peter sounded dubious.

“I don’t like the man, but he doesn’t seem like the type to torture someone. Kill them, sure. But not torture.” Stiles absently drew a pattern on Peter’s chest.

“Alright, I’ll trust your instincts.”

“Gerard came down not long after I was tossed into the basement, long enough for me to see them and try to free them.” Stiles voice went blank again, “He told me that running with monsters was dangerous and then he beat me up. When he was done, he told me I was to be a distraction, to anger Scott. Then he had some of his men drop me off at home.”

“Did you see anyone about your injuries?”

Stiles shook his head, “No. I didn’t want anyone to see me.”

“How did you end up at the warehouse then?”

“Lydia.”  His voice broke, and he snuggled closer to Peter. “She was so upset about Jackson, I’ve never seen her so broken, she was just so blank and tearful. Well until she saw the text from Scott, then she perked up, glowing with the chance to possibly save him.” Stiles’ body shuddered as he tried to cry silently, “I hate him. He doesn’t deserve her.”

Peter’s eyes glowed blue with anger at Stiles’ pain, hating the way sadness altered his normal scent.

“I made her go away. I didn’t want her to die doing something so meaningless.” His fingers dug into Peter’s chest in distress. “Then dad came in and he called me a hero. I didn’t feel like a hero, I just wanted to hide. But I knew I had to do something, so I went after Lydia and then to the warehouse.”

Peter hugged Stiles tighter as he broke into tears, clutching at Peter as if he was the only thing holding him together. Peter just wanted to comfort the boy and stop him smelling so devastated. Even since the first time he had seen Stiles, he knew he was special. When he had kidnapped him in order to find Derek, Stiles had proved himself, he had been terrified but had still snarked and tried to talk Peter out of his planned actions. 

On the night of his death he was sure that Stiles was the one to come up with the idea of using Molotov cocktails. Scott was far too emotional and obsessed with the Argent girl, his nephew was so consumed by anger and that boy who had become the kanima just wasn’t smart enough to make the chemical mix.  He was proud of Stiles for doing what was needed, even if it had resulted in his death. 

Since he had used the girl to resurrect himself, his mind had been clearer and he knew that death was the only thing that could have stopped him. He was steadier now, his grief and anger healed enough so that he was no longer obsessed with revenge, and his focus had shifted to building a strong pack.

This meant supporting and following his nephew, hopefully being able to teach him what he needs to know to be the best Alpha he could be. Stiles would be a brilliant addition to the Pack, intelligent with a streak of ruthlessness that would ensure his survival and that of the Pack in the supernatural world.  Stiles was also level headed and sensible enough that he would be able to temper Derek’s impulsive actions and martyr complex, and therefore ensure that the Hale Pack would once again be a force to be reckoned with.

He stroked Stiles’ back comfortingly as Stiles’ crying slowly calmed and he drifted back into an exhausted sleep.

 

* * *

 

The next morning Stiles was woken again by his bed mate climbing out of the bed, however this time his room was glowing slightly with the dawn light. Peter quietly slipped into his clothes, feeling Stiles’ eyes on him.

“I have to go. Your father is starting to stir.” Stiles nodded in acknowledgement, “Send me a text when you are free today, Derek will probably want to check up on you.”

Stiles made a questioning noise as he sat up, revealing his injured chest.

“He also noticed that you were hurt last night, but had to go and look for Erica and Boyd,” Peter grimaced slightly at the mention of the two runaway werewolves, “So I came to check on you while he and Isaac went searching.”

“Did they find them?” Stiles voice was hushed, hoping to not wake his father before Peter had left.

Peter shook his head, holding up a phone, “Derek didn’t contact me, so I presume not.”  Peter moved over to the desk where Stiles’ phone was charging, and picked it up. “I’m going to add my number. Remember to contact me when you can get away.”

Stiles shrugged slightly, “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to today.  I’m surprised that dad even let me go after Lydia last night.”

“He’s worried about you.” Peter’s head tilted slightly and Stiles knew his father was awake. “Just try. If you need a ride either Derek or I will come and pick you up.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, “I’m sure that would reassure him, a man he had arrested for murder and a man who is supposed to be in a coma, location currently unknown.”

Peter smirked and after putting Stiles’ phone down moved over to give Stiles a light kiss on the forehead and run a hand lightly over Stiles neck, scenting him.  Then he slipped over to the window and slid out silently.

Stiles rolled over to face away from the window and relaxed into a light doze.  It was not long until he could hear his father moving around getting ready for the day. Stiles looked at his alarm clock which read just after 7am and knew that he was not going to get back to sleep as his bruises were starting to ache again. He sat up and got to his feet with a groan just as his father was been heading past his room to go downstairs, however he paused when he heard Stiles.

“You awake Stiles?” He tapped lightly on the door and then peeked through the door as he opened it slightly.

“Yeah I’m awake.” His father stepped fully into the room, taking in the marks and bruises littering his son’s torso. He had seen the marks on Stiles’ face, but his chest. It was a lot worse and much to his shock he recognised some of the marks as electrical burns.

“We’re going to the hospital.”  His voice was immovable and Stiles knew that he had no chance of changing his mind, so just nodded in agreement. “But not until after we’ve had something to eat.”

Stiles smiled slightly, “Coffee? Waffles?”

“Sure. Get dressed and then come downstairs.”  His father closed the door behind him and Stiles heard his footsteps thump down the stairs.

Stiles moved to his dresser and pulled out comfortable clothing, track pants and an Iron Man t-shirt, after all he was going to have to take off at least his shirt at the hospital.  He carefully pulled off his pyjama pants, then climbed slowly and carefully into the new clothes and went downstairs to get his coffee.

When Stiles shuffled into the kitchen his father handed him a coffee made exactly the way Stiles preferred, and Stiles sipped gratefully at the heavenly liquid, smiling his thanks at his father. It was gone within seconds and his father gave an amused huff as Stiles immediately moved to try and refill his cup. His father took it from him and instead nodded at the table. Stiles followed his father’s silent command, taking a seat at the table. His father watched his careful movements with concern, and then refilled the cup with coffee making it exactly the way Stiles’ liked it and handed it to Stiles before continuing to make the requested waffles.

After the two of them had eaten, Stiles’ father stood and took the dishes putting them on the counter. After which he turned to his son still sitting at the table.

“So before we go to the hospital are you going to tell me what really happened?”

Stiles meet his father’s steady look with one of his own, “I told you, some guys on the other team grabbed me and beat me up in revenge for losing the game.”

“All the team was still on the field, their coach made sure when Jackson’s body was being taken to the hospital.” Stiles stilled for just a moment, which the sheriff’s keen eyes caught and he knew that whatever came out of his son’s mouth was going to be a lie.

Stiles opened his mouth but at the expression on his father’s face decided not to lie, “It doesn’t matter who did it dad. It’s been taken care of.” The sheriff stilled at the reply, knowing it was honest and that he probably didn’t want to know.  His son’s temper was vicious and he had nasty streak that he used to get back at people who had roused that temper, after all that was how his and Jackson’s feud had started when they were children. Father and son stared at each other, and then the Sheriff nodded to acknowledge that his son was not going to say anything further.

“Then let’s head to the hospital to get you checked out.” Stiles nodded and stood gingerly from the table, moving slowly to the door. The Sheriff followed making sure to lock the door behind them, however when he looked up and noticed the damage to his jeep he couldn’t contain his shock. “What the hell Stiles?  What did you do last night?”

Stiles looked at his jeep and had to admit to himself that the damage looked a lot worse in the daylight. It hadn’t looked nearly as bad in the dark last night. “I told you I took care of it.”

The sheriff gaped at the flatness of his son’s voice. “Please tell me I’m not going to get a phone call about a hit and run that took place last night.”

Stiles shook his head and the Sheriff decided to let it go for now, knowing that if Stiles had run someone over with his car last night that there wasn’t going to be any evidence connecting Stiles to it. It had surprised him that Stiles had got caught when he had kidnapped Jackson and locked him in the police van.

The drive to the hospital was silent, Stiles sending a single text and getting one back.

“Was that Scott?”

“No.” The sheriff frowned at the note of unhappiness in Stiles voice.

“He was really worried about you last night when I realised you were missing.”

“And yet he hasn’t asked me if I am okay.” Stiles’ voice was sharp and the Sheriff decided to drop it.

It didn’t take long for a doctor to be able to check Stiles. When the doctor asked what had happened Stiles was blunt in replying that it didn’t take a genius to be able to tell that he had been beaten up. After that the doctor didn’t ask any more questions about how Stiles had been injured, just asking him to move this way or that, or if it hurt when the doctor did this or that. Stiles was curt in his answers and then remained silent as he was sent for x-rays to see if his ribs were broken.

It turned out that he had two cracked ribs and a lot of bruising.  Stiles was taped up and just as the two of them were about leave the Sheriff’s phone rang.  He took a few steps away, but Stiles could still hear his father’s side of the conversation.

“What do you mean Jackson Whittemore is alive? He was definitely dead last night.” Indistinct murmurs answered, “Fine I’ll be there soon, put him into an interview room and make sure he’s comfortable.”

He looked apologetic as he came back to Stiles’ side. “Sorry kiddo I have to go into the station, Jackson and his parents are at the station. He apparently woke up in the morgue and did a runner home last night.” Stiles nodded but his father could see that his son wasn’t really surprised by the news.  His already high concern for what his son was involved in rose at this apparent knowledge. “I’ll drop you at home on the way.”

To his surprise Stiles shook his head, “I’ll call someone to give me a ride.”

“Okay. Are you sure? It’s not far out of the way.”

Stiles touched his father’s shoulder lightly, “I’ll be fine dad. Nothing will happen.”

“Alright but I’m going to wait for them to get here.” Stiles looked at him for a moment the nodded in acceptance.  Stiles dialled a number on his phone and took a step away from his father.

“I’m at the hospital can you come and pick me up my dad has to go to the station.” He paused, “Two cracked ribs and bruising.” Another pause, “Okay I’ll see you soon.” He hung and turned to his father, “He’s on his way, about 5 minutes away.”

“Then let’s head for the entrance.” The two of them moved towards the entry of the hospital. The sheriff was surprised to see the familiar black Camaro waiting at the entrance. “Derek Hale is the friend giving you the ride? I thought you didn’t know him.”

“It’s not Derek.” The window of the passenger door rolled down letting the Sheriff get a glimpse of the man inside.  He was familiar somehow but the sheriff couldn’t place him. “I’ll see you for dinner?” Stiles asked as he moved in for a hug.

“I’ll try, but it depends on how complicated the whole mess with Jackson is. I’ll have to stay at the station until it’s all sorted.” The sheriff gave his son the tightest hug the he could with Stiles’ cracked ribs, “I’ll let you know either way.”

Stiles smiled softly at him and walked to the car, climbing in through the door that had been opened for him.

It wasn’t until the car was driving away that the Sheriff managed to place the man.  Peter Hale, a strangely awake and no longer scared Peter Hale.

 

* * *

 

“That didn’t take as long as I thought it would.” Peter was curious, he really hadn’t believed that the Sheriff would let his son out of his sight for at least the entire day and maybe not even then.

“It was fairly straight forward, the longest wait was for the x-rays to be taken.” Stiles started to shrug then halted with a wince. Peter lifted a hand and wrapped it around the back of Stiles’ neck taking as much of Stiles’ pain that he could while not taking his eyes off the road. “Thanks.”

“It’s alright Stiles, I don’t like you being hurt.” Stiles looked over at the man still staring at the road, but decided to drop it.

“Where are we going? This isn’t the way to the house.”

Peter’s mouth tightened and he took his hand off Stiles to change gears. “There’s been a change of plans. The house isn’t safe.”

Stiles snorted, “I don’t think it was ever safe.”

Peter crushed a smile. No, not in the condition it had been in. “It’s a bit more unsafe than before, we had some visitors.”

Stiles opened his mouth to ask, but Peter cut him off, “Derek will tell you.” Stiles snapped his mouth shut and nodding turning to stare out the window. He watched absently as the familiar landscape of Beacon Hill’s flowed passed the window.

Soon they turned into a location well known to Stiles, Gina’s Diner. “Why are we here?”

“Wolves need to eat too.” Was Peter’s non-answer.

They got out of the car, Stiles more cautiously than his usual bounding flail and headed for the door, Peter guiding him with a gentle hand in the small of his back.

“Stiles honey, what happened to you?” An older red-haired waitress made a bee line for Stiles as soon as he entered. She gently grasped his face and turned his head to inspect the damage. She glared at Peter who had followed Stiles into the diner, “Did he do it?”

Stiles smiled at her protective anger, “It wasn’t him Sarah.”

“Has your daddy seen you?” At Stiles nod she took a step back releasing his face.

“He took me to the hospital earlier today. I’ll be alright.”

“Okay sweetie, just as long as you’ve been looked at. You want your usual?”

Stiles spotted Derek and Isaac sitting at a table towards the back of the diner with clear views of the front and back doors. “Have they ordered yet?” He asked pointing at the two leather clad wolves.

Sarah looked at the table, “Not yet, you go over and I’ll be there to take your order soon.”

“Thanks Sarah.” Stiles grinned at her, which turned into a grimace as his split lip protested the movement.

He made his way over to the table with Peter haunting his steps and slid into the empty side of the table, Peter sliding in after him. Stiles noticed the protective positioning of the two older werewolves, both he and Isaac were against a wall, with Peter and Derek placed between them and the entrances to the diner.

Derek’s eyebrows were a solid line of worry. “Are you okay Stiles? You were hurt last night.”  Isaac nodded in agreement.

“Two cracked ribs and miscellaneous bruising and burns.”

Derek growled angrily. “Gerard.”

Stiles nodded, “I was to be a message for Scott.”

“Obviously that didn’t work.”

“I didn’t show him.” Derek nodded at Stiles’ answer. “What happened last night? From what I could gather Gerard was taken care of and I saw Jackson come back to life as a werewolf.” Stiles asked.

Derek growled and Stiles saw Isaac press a hand to his shoulder in comfort. But before Derek could answer Stiles’ inquiry they were interrupted by Sarah coming over a chocolate milkshake in hand.

“Here you go sweetie.” She put the shake down in front of Stiles, but when Stiles opened his mouth to protest that he hadn’t ordered the shake she cut him off with a sharp shake of her head, “You need a shake honey, just take it. Now what can I get the rest of you gentleman?”

Stiles took a sip of his shake to cover his amusement at the confused wolves, Peter was first to recover.

“Cheeseburger and fries with a chocolate shake.”

“Could I get that plus another burger?” Isaac’s question earned him a smile from the waitress.

“Of course sweetheart, and you?” She turned to Derek who looked blankly at her.

“Just get him the same as me Sarah.” Stiles saved Derek from having to speak.

“Right two cheeseburgers and fries, plus an extra burger for the cutie, and two chocolate shakes.  Then two plates of lasagne with salad and curly fries for Stiles and Mr Silent here, what shall I get for him to drink Honey?” She asked Stiles.

Who answered with a grin, hurting his lip slightly, “Cola Float.”

“Right, I’ll bring that over when it’s ready.” She bustled away, not giving Derek a chance to argue. However Derek was too busy glaring at Stiles to notice her leaving.

“Don’t deny it Sourwolf, I know that you’re hungry and like cola floats.” When Derek had been hiding out at his house Stiles had noticed the empty glasses and Derek had inhaled the lasagne Stiles had brought him.

Derek just grunted in reply. Stiles could feel amusement from Peter and Isaac was struggling to hide his smile and knew that he was safe from retribution. For now anyway, Derek would probably get him back later.

“How much do you know about what happened on the last couple of days?” Derek asked

“Not much, I presume that Peter came back to life pretty recently, but Scott wasn’t really telling me anything and I haven’t talked to him since he left last night with the Argents.”

Derek scowled at the mention of the Argents.

Peter cleared his throat gently, “I came back on the night of Lydia’s party.” Stiles turned to glare at him. “She wasn’t hurt Stiles.” He tilted his head slightly in consideration, “Well physically anyway.”

Stiles rolled his eyes at the dismissive answer.

“Last night at the game after Jackson killed himself.” Isaac continued sharing his perspective of the night. “When your dad was questioning everyone to see if they knew what had happened either to Jackson or where you were, Mrs McCall went to the hospital with Jackson’s body. She called not long after to tell us to get to the hospital because something strange was going on with Jackson’s body.”

“While they were off at the hospital Derek and I found some information in my records to match what was happening and a way to save Jackson.” Peter continued. “So we came up with a plan to meet up with Scott and Isaac with the body at the warehouse.  Somewhere along the way they picked up Chris Argent.”

Isaac shrugged, “He wanted to help.”

“He wanted to help werewolves.” Peter sounded sceptical.  Stiles looked at Derek who also looked disbelieving and he wondered if this was the first time that Derek was hearing Isaac’s version of events.

“No. He wanted to help us take out Gerard to save Alison.” Isaac replied bluntly, “He was honest in telling us his motivations.”

“That does seem more likely.” Stiles nodded, that did seem a lot more like something that Mr Argent would do, he obviously loved his daughter a lot and she was all he had left after the suicide of his wife.

“So what happened between then and when I arrived?”

Derek spoke quietly, “Peter and I got to the warehouse at the same time as the others with Jackson’s body. While I went over to speak to them, Peter hid.” Stiles looked over at Peter with curiosity in his eyes.

“I’m still weak from coming back.” Stiles rolled his eyes at the innocent protest and expression on his face, turning back to Derek just in time to see Derek mirroring his rolling eyes.

“I was going to kill Jackson, and make sure that he wasn’t going to come back.”

“Wait I thought you said you had found a way to save him. Why were you going to kill him?” Stiles protested in confusion.

“I didn’t think it would actually work. I wanted to take him out with the minimum amount of casualties.” Stiles conceded the point, seeing how Derek would view it that way. “But before I could Gerard arrived.”

Derek paused, not wanting Sarah to overhear their conversation as she brought the plates of food over. “Here you go boys,” she put the plates in front of them and smiled, “Give me a wave if you need anything else.”

“Thanks Sarah. This looks delicious, pass our compliments on to Jacob.”

“Will do.” She leaned over to gently ruffle his hair.

Stiles turned back to the werewolves who were staring at him. “What? I’ve been coming here with dad for as long as I remember.”

The wolves grunted in unison, before all of them turned to their food. The conversation was put on hold as they all dug in, the only sounds coming from the table were the sounds of enthusiastic eating.

“This is delicious.” Isaac had finished his first burger.  Stiles hummed in agreement. “How did you and your dad find out about his place?” He asked Stiles curiously.

“Dad arrested Jacob for murdering his wife a few years ago.” The wolves paused in eating and looked at Stiles, “What? He didn’t do it, it turns out his brother-in-law had killed her.”

“Too true, little one.” A booming voice made Stiles and Isaac jump. “This little one helped prove I was innocent.”

Stiles turned to look past Peter at the huge, heavily tattooed man standing at the end of their table, “Hi Jacob.”

“Sarah told me someone had roughed you up, little one.” Jacob leaned closer, causing Peter to lean back to maintain his space, and inspected the marks on Stiles face. “Need me to take care of them?” The werewolves stilled, hearing the truth in the offer.

“Thanks Jacob, but he’s been taken care of.” Isaac shifted slightly and Stiles’ head snapped to him, “Hasn’t he?”

Peter cleared his throat and looked coldly at Jacob until the man moved out of his space, “He was pretty badly injured, but we got a bit distracted with everything that was happening.” He told Stiles apologetically.

“Just give me a name, little one. Me and the boys will hunt him down and make sure.” Jacob looked at Stiles waiting for the name, however Stiles closed his eyes as he considered the offer.

“Thanks for the offer Jacob, but I think I want to take care of it for myself.” Now that Stiles thought about it, he was unsurprised to find out that Gerard had somehow managed to get away.

“You sure?” Stiles nodded slowly but with certainly, “Well if your wolves can’t help give me a call.”

The man walked away after reaching over to ruffle Stiles’ hair in farewell, heading back into the kitchen.

“Did he just call us wolves?” Isaac asked confused.

“Yes, he did.” Derek’s voice was flat. They looked at Stiles for an answer, only to discover he had gone back to his lasagne. Stiles hastily swallowed as he felt the stares of the three werewolves.

“What?”

“Why did he call us wolves?” Isaac asked.

“Because you are werewolves?” Stiles spoke slowly, as if to a stupid person.

“How did he know that?” Derek asked bluntly.

Stiles looked at Derek confused, then at Peter, “Because he’s Tylwyth Teg. How did you not know that?”

The older werewolves spluttered in shock at his matter of fact reply.

“What’s a Tylwyth Teg?” Isaac asked, looking confused by the reactions of the werewolves.

“Welsh fairy folk.” Derek managed to get out. “How did you find that out?”

Stiles shrugged, “When my mother got sick,” he took a deep breath to steady himself, “I used to come here a lot and Jacob used to tell me stories. The stories were so lifelike that I asked, and he told me.”

“Just like that?” Peter was stunned, the Tylwyth Teg were notorious for their secrecy, in fact this was the first time that he had ever actually met one, at least a confirmed one.

“Yep.” Stiles shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but as Peter studied him he could see that Stiles was well aware of the unusual situation and behaviour.

“And he won’t mind you telling us?” He managed to ask steadily.

“He wouldn’t have called you wolves if I couldn’t.”

Derek studied Stiles for a moment and decided that he would ask later what else Stiles knew. “So when Gerard turned up everything went to shit.” Stiles choked out a laugh at the bluntness of Derek’s words.

“Jackson woke up and we tried to fight but he managed to take us all out. I was paralysed and Alison was going to kill me but Gerard stopped her by ordering Jackson to take her hostage. That’s when he got Scott to use me to give him the bite.”

Stiles choked in surprise, “He wanted the bite?”

“Turns out he had cancer.” Isaac chipped in.

“And there is no cure for cancer, not a natural one anyway.” Stiles concluded.

Derek nodded, still looking unsettled. Stiles knew this was because Derek considered the bite a gift and was probably horrified that Scott had been so willing to give someone like Gerard the bite.

Stiles reached across the table and patted Derek’s hand comfortingly, swallowing back his amusement at Derek’s shock at his action. “I presume that Scott had some sort of plan?”

Derek grunted, but it was Isaac that answered. “Turns out that Scott had smelled the death on the old man a while ago and he and Deaton had come up with a plan.  Scott managed to switch his pills with mountain ash pills.”

Stiles flinched, “That can’t have been pretty.”

“No, but not undeserved.” Peter commented coolly.

The table went quiet for a moment as everyone considered his comment, but Stiles couldn’t find it in himself to feel sorry for Gerard’s suffering.

“Shouldn’t that have killed him?” Stiles eventually asked as he finished his milkshake.

Derek and Peter exchanged a look, “It should have, but until I see a body and can remove his head myself I won’t believe it.” Peter replied.

Stiles nodded, “So what’s the plan now?” But before anyone could answer he continued, “Or more importantly what happened this morning at the house?”

Derek studied him, then replied, “We had an unfriendly visitor.”

“Is everyone alright?” Stiles inspected them all for any wounds.

“We’re all fine Stiles. It was a mark on the door.”

“What kind of mark would have you all so worried?”

“The Alpha Pack’s.”


	2. Chapter Two

The ride back to Stiles’ house was comfortably silent. Derek had taken possession of the Camaro and Stiles, ignoring Peter’s protests and offered Stiles a lift home. Stiles knew that Derek wanted to talk to him, but also knew that he wasn’t quite ready to talk yet. So when they arrived at his house, Stiles spoke for the first time, “Just pull into the driveway.” When Derek lifted an eyebrow in query, “He saw Peter pick me up in the Camaro, so he knows that we are at least semi-friendly.”

Derek nodded and smoothly pulled into the driveway and turned off the car, silently following Stiles into the house.

“Want a drink?” Derek nodded in acceptance of the offer.

Stiles smirked and quickly pulled out the cola and the ice cream to make cola floats for the both of them. Derek accepted the drink with a raised eyebrow and a shaken head. Then headed into the living room and settling on to the couch, leaving plenty of room for Stiles to join him. Stiles sat, curling his legs up underneath him and patiently sipped his drink, waiting for Derek to speak.

“I don’t trust him.” The words sounded forced and sad. So Stiles knew he was talking about Peter. “He killed Laura and I don’t think I will ever forget that.”

“And you shouldn’t.” Derek looked startled, “I like Peter but he’s dangerous. He’s better than he was but still not exactly fully healed either.” Stiles studied Derek for a moment and then continued, “But at the moment I don’t think he’s dangerous to us.” Derek’s eyebrow tilted in inquiry, “He wants a stable, strong Pack, and that is you.”

Derek snorted harshly, “The Pack isn’t exactly stable or strong at the moment.”

Stiles shifted so that his legs were touching Derek’s, “But it will be. You’ve got me and Isaac and Peter as well, and we’ll find Erica and Boyd and they’ll join us.”

“Erica and Boyd ran away.” Derek’s voice was harsh, “They didn’t trust me to keep them safe.”

“Erica is sixteen and for the first time in her life she feels like she has something to lose.” Stiles was matter of fact, “And I would wager that Boyd, although I have to admit probably the best choice you made with your betas.” Derek glared at him, “Boyd also has something to lose, Erica. I pretty sure that she’s his first girlfriend and the first person outside his family that he’s ever cared for.” 

Derek grunted slightly, before swallowing a mouthful of his cola float. “I think it hurt more that he left.”

Stiles hummed in agreement.

“Be careful with Peter, Stiles.” Derek warned, but avoided Stiles’ gaze. “You are right he’s dangerous, he’s always been dangerous. He was my mother’s enforcer, her left hand. And he always got what he wanted.”

Stiles’ gaze was steady when Derek finally looked at him, “Which at this point at time is me.” Stiles shrugged, “He’s wanted me since the first time we interacted, but I don’t think he will force it at this point.”

Derek nodded, his eyes sad, “I think you’re probably right. He’s more like he was before the fire, only slightly evil and totally manipulative.” 

Stiles laughed and Derek mouth quirked slightly in amusement. “True, but I think I like that.” He sobered, “But I’m not ready for what he wants and he recognises that. So he will wait and gently lead me down the path to his side.”

“Are you okay with that?” Derek was serious, “I can run him off if you want.”

Stiles grinned at Derek’s offer, “Thanks Derek, but it’s alright. If I decide that he isn’t what I want I’ll take care of it.” He eyes were cold and Derek knew that Stiles was capable of dealing with Peter if he needed to.

“Peter wasn’t the only thing I wanted to talk to you about. Are you certain that Scott and Alison have mated?”

Stiles nodded, “Yeah I’m sure.” He made a disgusted face, “I heard far more than I ever wanted to about it.”

Derek smirked at Stiles’ pain, “Scott does seem like the type to over share.” 

Stiles rolled his eyes, “If her father knew how much I know about his precious daughter I’m pretty sure he would shoot me and then Scott.”

“So he bit her?” Derek’s eyes were intense. “And it took?”

“On the inner thigh and it scarred.”

“I don’t like the Argent’s and I’ll never trust them.” Stiles studied Derek’s stiff posture, and shifted closer wanting to comfort an obviously distressed Derek.

“I don’t think she’s like Kate.” Stiles spoke cautiously.

“You know about Kate?” Derek’s voice was shuttered and blank. His distress was too much for Stiles, who shifted abruptly so that he was lying down on the couch with his head in the man’s lap.

“Pet me.” He ordered and Derek’s hands moved slowly, but eventually started combing through Stiles’ short hair. “My dad’s the sheriff and I’m nosey.” Stiles shrugged and continued at Derek’s snort of amusement. “I looked at the case file about the fire after her death. The file was pretty clear in that she must have had an inside source, and that it was likely that they hadn’t known.” Derek’s hands stopped moving, so Stiles nudged his hands with his head, encouraging Derek to keep moving.

“When I was 14 I meet a girl, Paige.” Derek’s voice was haunted. “She was perfect; intelligent, funny and beautiful. She made me chase her for weeks.” Derek smiled sadly, “And I wanted her so much. She finally let me take her out and that was it. I knew she was my mate. We dated for a year and I wanted to tell her the truth about what I was, what my family was. Peter…” Derek stopped for a long time, trying to regain his composure, “Peter advised me that the easiest way would be to show her. But I was too scared, I got it in my head that maybe if she was a wolf herself it would be easier.” 

Stiles heard Derek choke back a sob. “We had some other Packs visiting. My mother was well known as a wise woman and lots of wolves came to her for advice, so there was a number of Packs around for a summit to decide what to do about the Hunters. So I decide to ask one of the Alpha’s to bite Paige.” He went silent again, and Stiles was pretty sure that this was the first time Derek had spoken about this to anyone, “I changed my mind almost immediately, but it was too late. I got there at the end of his attack and he’d already bit Paige.” Stiles shifted closer to Derek, not dislodging Derek’s hands but managing to curve more of his body to touch Derek’s, he was guessing that talking about this was one of the hardest things he had ever done. “I got the two of us out of there and hid us. But the bite didn’t take, her body started rejecting the bite and I knew she was dying. I didn’t know what to do, but I hoped that if I gave her the mating bite that it might help.” Stiles had to stop a sob himself he knew that this story didn’t have a happy ending. “It didn’t and the last thing she said to me was that she had always known I was a werewolf and that it hadn’t mattered to her and she loved me anyway.” Derek shifted abruptly and Stiles found himself lying on his back on the couch with Derek’s face pressing into his neck. “I broke her neck to save her from feeling anymore pain.”

Stiles found himself soothing the older man, murmuring nonsense into his ears and stroking his back reassuringly. Stiles couldn’t blame him for his actions to relieve Paige’s pain. 

“I met Kate not long after.” Derek continued hoarsely, “She was older than me and I wanted to feel something after Paige. It didn’t take her long to seduce me, I just went along with it. I didn’t realise that she was a Hunter, she disguised it somehow, and I didn’t mean to tell her anything.”

“Of course you didn’t.” Stiles paused for a second debating whether to ask his question.

“Just ask Stiles, I can feel your curiosity.”

Stiles made sure to keep any censure out of his tone. “How come your family didn’t figure her out?” 

“She made sure that she never meet them, at the time I thought it was because I was 16 and she was at least 20, but I know better now. Peter, who would have been the most likely to figure it out had been sent away by my mother to help another Pack. That was what saved him, you know, he was just getting back when the house was set alight. He got his burns trying to get into the house to save them.”

“I’m glad he killed her, I mean I was glad before but even more now. She took advantage of a grieving underage boy, she deserved everything that Peter did.” Stiles was angry, so very angry. “The Argent’s are one fucked up family. I don’t know how Chris escaped most of the crazy.”

Derek snorted, “I’m not sure he did.”

“Nah, I think Kate got all the crazy in their generation.” Stiles reflected, “I just hope that Alison only has a small dose of the crazy.”

“Me too.”

Stiles interrupted the resulting silence, “What do you want for dinner?”

“Huh?” Derek was confused by the subject change.

“I need to start dinner soon and you’re staying.”

“I am?”

“Yes.”

Derek shrugged, “Meatloaf.”

“What? No. I’m not making fat on a plate. Pick something else.” Stiles sounded outraged.

“Fine, roast chicken.”

“I can do that.” Stiles started wiggling around trying to get up, so just to be contrary Derek made himself even heavier. “Ack, dying. Squished.”

Derek laughed silently not lifting his face from Stiles shoulder, or his body from where it was pinning Stiles’ down.

“You’re a jerk, get off me Sourwolf.”

Derek sighed exaggeratedly then smoothly got to his feet and held out a hand to assist Stiles to his feet. Stiles gratefully took the offered hand and Derek effortlessly pulled him to his feet.

“I’m going to make sure I have all the food I need to make a roast chicken.” Stiles poked his tongue out at Derek, then flounced out of the room and into the kitchen.

* * *

It turned out that Stiles was lacking some ingredients for making what he called a proper roast chicken. His solution to the problem was to ring Peter, and order him to grab Isaac and pick up the needed ingredients on their way over to the Stilinski place.

At Derek’s questioning eyebrow, “What? If I’m going to feed you I should probably feed them as well.” Stiles shuddered, “I think Isaac would exist purely of burgers if we left it up to him.” He pointed his finger at Derek accusingly, “And you’ve probably been eating cute bunnies.”

Derek bared his teeth, snapping them playfully at Stiles, “I prefer bambi.” Stiles gave him a flat look, “More challenging to catch.”

Stiles rolled his eyes and moved away to grab out the dishes he needed and start prepping the food he did have. It wasn’t long until Peter and Isaac came through the door, “Excellent, bring me my ingredients.” Stiles ordered the two of them.

“Why I am picking up groceries for you?” Peter asked as he and Isaac put the bags on the kitchen bench.

“If I’m cooking you dinner you need to help somehow.” Stiles replied as he dug into the bags, pulling the things he needed out. He tossed a bag of carrots at Isaac, “Peel these.” Isaac who had easily caught them, stared blankly confused until Derek handed him a peeler that he had retrieved from a drawer and nudged him into a chair. “You, peel these.” Derek was handed a bag of potatoes. “And you,” he pointed ominously at Peter, “make the stuffing.”

“What if I don’t know how to make stuffing?” He asked innocently.

“Please I know you have a degree in fine cooking.”

Derek smiled at the quickly concealed look of shock on his uncle’s face. “How do you know that?”

“I know everything.” Stiles sounded smug.

“I doubt that.” Peter replied.

“Your first girlfriend was named Helen and the two of you got caught by her father having sex in their hot tub.” Was Stiles quick reply.

To Derek’s amazement his uncle began to blush. He shook his head, “I don’t think I want to know how you found that out.”

“Probably a good idea.” Stiles smiled shark-like. Without any further conversation, they all got on with their assigned tasks while Stiles moved around the kitchen in a whirlwind of activity. Just as Stiles was putting the chicken into the oven, the werewolves heard the sheriff’s cruiser pull into the driveway.

“Stiles, why is Derek Hale’s car in my driveway?” He called out as he came through the front door.

“Because we’re feeding him.” Was Stiles shouted reply. 

The sheriff walked into the kitchen, still dressed in his uniform, gun on his hip. He took in the three people at his table, then cut a look at his son, “Really Stiles, two murder suspects and a missing coma patient?”

“Former murder suspects.” Stiles was quick to retort.

“Former murder suspects then. Mr Lahey, Mr Hale, and Mr Hale.” He nodded at them, “I’m going to get changed, how long is dinner?”

“It’s going to be a while, we’re having roast chicken and it’s only just gone into the oven. I didn’t expect you to be home so early?” Stiles’ voice rose questioningly.

“It was easier than I thought to clear up Jackson’s death. He hasn’t got any injuries and is playing it off as a prank that went a little too far.” He gave his son a hard look.

Stiles looked innocent, “Really? That does sound like something a jerk like Jackson would do.”

The sheriff snorted disbelievingly, and left the room.

The four of them waited until he was upstairs, “He didn’t sound like he believed that story at all.” Isaac sounded nervous.

“I had to get my smarts from somewhere.” Stiles comment caused them to look at him, “What? I’m kind of waiting for him to spring his knowledge of the whole,” he waved his hand around, “supernatural thing on me at the most awkward moment possible.”

“Is he going to push for answers?” Derek sounded worried.

“If he does I’ll distract him with the knowledge that you stayed here while running from the cops.”

“He what?” The sheriff asked angrily. Derek froze in sudden terror.

Stiles laughed at the expression on his face, and kept laughing as he took in Isaac’s subtle movements towards the door.

“I told you he was innocent.” Stiles managed to get out between his laughter.

“I’m getting a beer and then I’m going to sit in the lounge watching sports until dinner is ready.” The sheriff stalked over to the fridge and got his beer, then after a hard look at his son and the two men sitting at the table, and the boy escaping through the door, “Don’t go anywhere Isaac, if you’ve helped Stiles prepare dinner then you deserve to eat it.”

Isaac froze, “Yes sir.” He squeaked out and slunk back to the table. Stiles was laughing so hard that the only reason he hadn’t fallen out of his chair was that Peter was holding him there.

“You’re a menace.” Peter commented quietly to the still cackling boy in his grip.

“I know.” Stiles calmed enough to reassure Isaac, “Don’t worry Isaac he doesn’t bite. Unlike these two.” He jerked a hand at the older wolves. Derek responded to the comment by snapping at the hand waving in his face.

When dinner was ready, Stiles made Derek set the table, then called his father into the dining room.  
He father entered the room and took a seat, the others following his lead. Stiles was amused to realise that the wolves were recognising his father as an Alpha.

“So dad, apart from Jackson anything interesting happen today?”

“Matthews got arrested again.” The sheriff replied.

“What did he do this time?” Stiles asked eagerly, always up for a new Matthews story.

“Ryan Matthews?” Peter asked delicately.

“You know him, Peter?” The Sheriff was making an effort to be polite.

“I went to school with him.” Peter replied smoothly.

“That’s true. Weren’t you very good mates?”

“Until he started running with Henry and his gang, yes we were friends.”

“What did he do dad, don’t leave me in suspense.” Stiles asked almost vibrating in his seat.

“He got picked up for prostitution again,” the sheriff rolled his eyes, “Mrs Wallace called it in and stuffed him full of waffles while waiting for us to arrive.”

“Was he wearing the purple dress again?” Stiles asked eagerly.

“No,” the Sheriff shook his head in exasperation, “No it was a lime green miniskirt and sparkly orange corset this time.”

“I wouldn’t have thought that Ryan could pull that off.” Peter commented curiously.

“That’s the thing, he can’t. It’s all hairy limbs and big bushy beard.” The Sheriff sounded long suffering.

Stiles let out a peel of laughter, “I told him last time that he needs to shave his legs at least, but he told me that it interfered with his aura.”

“I can’t believe you encourage him.” The sheriff sounded despairing.

“He’s not that bad.”

The Sheriff abruptly turned to Derek, “So Derek what have you been up to since the last time I arrested you?”

Derek spoke stiltedly, “I’ve been trying to settle my sister’s affairs.”

“Sorry son. Are you doing alright?” The sheriff actually sounded sorry for his comment.

Stiles decided to leave them to their discussion and turned to Isaac to ask what he needed help with to make sure he passed all his exams. The dinner went smoothly with the Sheriff not making any more pointed comments. Isaac and Stiles cleared the table and the werewolves started making preparation to head off.

Peter pulled Stiles aside, “I’ll be back later, we’re going to make a quick patrol of the neighbourhood.” Stiles nodded and they headed to the door together following Derek, Isaac and the Sheriff who was saying farewell to them.

“Oh Peter, before you head off, when did you come out of your coma?”

Peter could read the sharp inquiry in the man’s eyes. “Not long after Derek came back into town, I went to Switzerland and the doctors there helped me recover fully.”

“And the scars?”

“Plastic surgery.”

“Good surgeons.”

“The best.”

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow, we can sort out a study plan tomorrow Isaac.” Stiles pushed the wolves away from the door and his father’s sharp eyes to the two cars parked on the driveway. 

Derek looked at him, “I’ll take your jeep to be checked out tomorrow.”

“You don’t need to do that Derek.” Stiles said, “Plus if you do that, it’s sure to get back to my father and he’ll figure out that you had something to do with it.”

Derek restrained an eye roll, “I’m pretty sure that your father already know that Stiles. You made us have dinner with him and as you said earlier you had to get your smarts from somewhere.”

“Oh right, well can you even afford to do that? I mean you’ve been living in the woods like some sort of wild wolf.” He snickered, “A wild wolf.”

“My family was extremely well off Stiles, I can afford a few hundred to fix your jeep. I could even buy you a new one if you wanted?” Stiles could hear the question and shook his head in answer.

“If you’re sure?” Derek nodded, “Then thank you I suppose.” Stiles snickered, “At least I don’t have to worry that my dad will have to arrest you for stealing the new car, it’s a Porshe Cayenne isn’t it?”

“Yes Stiles I got another car, no I didn’t steal it. Now go inside Stiles.” Derek said physically turning the boy and giving him a light shove towards his father who was staring at them suspiciously.

Stiles moved back to his father, only now noticing how his ribs weren’t hurting as much. Huh he didn’t think the werewolf pain thingy healed, only took the pain away temporary.

“So…” his father drawled as they entered the house. “Just how did you get to be friends with Isaac Lahey and the Hales?”

Stiles looked at his dad, “They helped me out and I’ve helped them out.”

“Nothing illegal?” Stiles was silent, “Stiles? I’m not going to have to arrest you am I?”

“Of course not.” Stiles scoffed.

“Just don’t get caught I’m not sure I’ll be able to manage re-election if you get arrested. Again.”

“Jackson will drop the restraining order.”

“You sound confident of that.”

Stiles’ eyes went hard for a brief moment, “I am.”

“Fine I believe you. Now the Hales, there is no way that I believe Peter Hale’s story about Switzerland. What really happened?”

“I don’t know what you mean daddio.”

“How about you tell me the truth just once, I’m getting sick of your lies.” The Sheriff scolded.

Stiles sighed and looked at his dad, “Magic.”

He father scowled at him, “Jesus Christ kiddo,” he studied his son, “Don’t tell me he’s really a werewolf.”

Stiles choked in surprise, “Huh?”

“Not an idiot, son.”

“But…? How?”

His father gave his a flat stare.

“Oh my god, you went through my Internet history.” He accused, pointing a finger at his father. He blanched suddenly, “Ignore the porn.”

“We’ll get to that later.” Stiles swallowed, “You better tell me everything.”

Stiles’ slumped and he skulked off to the living room, his father following closely. “Fine.” He settled on the couch as his father sat in his own chair. “But no alcohol.”

“I just found out werewolves exist, I think I deserve at least a whiskey.”

“No,” Stiles was stubborn, but reconsidered when thinking about everything he would be sharing. “I’ll let you have one beer.”

“Done.” The Sheriff held out a hand and Stiles grudgingly got up to get the beer.

“So?”

Stiles was silent for a moment gathering his thoughts, “So basically everything that has been going on started when you found me in the woods, looking for Laura Hale’s body.” His father rolled his eyes. “It turns out that Laura was killed by another werewolf, who Scott managed to get bitten by.”

“Were all the Hale’s werewolves?” His father asked.

Stiles nodded, “As far as I know yes. Derek and Peter don’t like to talk about their family.”

“Is that why Kate Argent burned down their house?” His father enquired.

Stiles nodded, “The Argent family are werewolf hunters. They’ve been hunting for hundreds of years and they think that all werewolves are monsters.” He made a sour face.

“Hang on didn’t you say that Scott was bitten, doesn’t that make him a werewolf too?” Stiles nodded confirming his father’s assumption, “And isn’t he dating Alison Argent?”

“Scott has the survival instincts of a slug.” Was Stiles succinct summing up of the whole romance.

The sheriff couldn’t help but agree with Stiles, “How is that going to work? Won’t her family object?”

“They did, it’s why Victoria died.”

“Please tell me you didn’t kill Victoria Argent.”

“Why do you seem to think that my first reaction is going to be murder?” Stiles asked his father indignantly.

“Please son. I love you, but you’re kind of violent when someone hurts your loved ones. Remember how Jackson and you started your feud.” His father eyed him, and Stiles had to concede the point. 

“Jackson deserved it.” Stiles scowled. “But no I didn’t kill Mrs Argent. Hunters follow a code that if they get bitten then they have to suicide.” Both Stiles and his father rolled their eyes at this, neither considered suicide an answer to anything.

“But that’s getting ahead of my story. Any way the next day he told me he’d been bitten by a wolf, but there hasn’t been wolves in California in years so I thought he was being an idiot, but then the bite mark disappeared. I figured out fairly quickly that he was a werewolf, but he didn’t believe me.”

“You can’t really have expected anything different, son. It’s a bit hard to believe.”

“You believe me.”

“But I’ve had more time to look at the evidence and see how the theory matched.”

“After he finally believed me, we spent the next little while trying to figure out who had bitten Scott. We thought it was Derek first off, and that was how we found Laura’s body.”

“I hope you apologised to Derek for getting him arrested.” The Sheriff paused, “Twice, even if he was staying here the second time.”

“He knows I’m sorry for that. Anyway I eventually figured out that the murders were all connected to the Hale fire and it didn’t take long to find Peter then.”

“Peter Hale? The man that was just sitting at my dining table eating dinner with us?” His father’s voice was strained.

“Yes, that Peter Hale.” 

His father gave him a solid glare, “You’d better explain why I shouldn’t track him down right now and toss him in jail for multiple homicides.”

“He was insane. The fire not only torched his body but fried his mind as well, then he was trapped in a coma for years reliving the fire constantly.” Stiles shrugged, “And he was punished for the murders.”

“He looked fine earlier, how was he punished?”

“Derek tore his throat out after Jackson and I set him on fire.”

The Sheriff gaped at his son’s matter of fact reply. “Wait how come he’s alive again. Do werewolves not die?”

“No werewolves do die, it’s just slightly harder to kill them. He used magic to come back from the dead.”

The sheriff dropped his head into his hands. “I don’t think I like this story.” He muttered.

“Don’t worry dad it gets worse.” Stiles interjected cheerfully. 

“Oh god.” His father moaned in despair, not lifting his head from his hands.

“So after Kate died, her father Gerard moved into town. He came to avenge Kate’s death and kill all the werewolves in town.”

“Madness.” His father moaned.

“Oh and Derek was biting teenagers and turning them into werewolves.” Stiles added in a positive chirp.

“Maybe everyone’s insane.” His father murmured contemplatively. 

“So Derek was building his Pack, and bit Jackson, Isaac, Erica Reyes and Vernon Boyd.” Stiles grimaced at Jackson’s name.

“Wait Jackson is a werewolf?” His father asked confused.

“Well,” Stiles drawled, “Now he is, he actually managed to turn into murderous giant lizard with paralysing venom first.”

“This is a nightmare. Wait he attacked all those people at the club? And killed those others, I thought Matt did that?” The Sheriff sounded completely bamboozled.

“He was being mind-controlled by Matt, and then Gerard killed Matt and took control of him.”

“Your life is a horror show son.” Stiles nodded violently in agreement to his father’s words.

“So then Gerard managed to convince Alison that she needed to avenge her mother’s death by killing Derek, because he had bitten her and turned her into a monster. So she went on what I can gather was a not quite murderous spree, managed to capture Erica and Boyd and let Gerard torture them in the basement of their house.”

“I don’t like the Argents.” His father growled.

“It gets worse.”

“Let me guess it was Gerard that grabbed you and tortured you?”

“Yup, then he let me go to serve as a warning to Scott, but I’m stubborn so I came home and hid away, so neither Scott or Derek would see me.” 

His father was growling in anger, “I’m going to kill him.”

Stiles reached across and patted him father’s arm, but carried on, “Then it turns out that he had cancer and wanted Derek to get the bite to cure it.”

“Hang on didn’t you say that the hunters are supposed to kill themselves if they get bitten?”

“Yup, anyway Scott had somehow managed to figure out that Gerard was sick and had come up with a plan.”

The sheriff groaned, Scott’s plans were horrible they almost always ended up in disaster.

“He somehow managed to switch Gerard’s medication to mountain ash, which is like werewolf kryptonite, and so when Scott used Derek to give him the bite.”

“Wait how come Scott couldn’t just bite him himself.” His father interrupted his babbling explanation.

“Only Alpha’s can give someone the bite.” Stiles noticed his father’s confusion and elaborated. “Alpha’s are the head of the pack, it was Talia Hale, then Laura, Peter and now Derek’s the Alpha.”

“You’re not a wolf are you?”

“Nope, still human.”

“Good.” His father sounded slightly reassured. “Carry on.”

“So after Scott forced Derek to bite Gerard, apparently it all went to Scott’s plan and Gerard started rejecting the bite.”

“So he’s dead?”

“No, apparently he got away in the confusion of Jackson waking up again and me hitting him with the jeep.”

“You hit Jackson with your jeep?”

Stiles nodded in satisfaction, “Then Lydia managed to turn him back into a real boy, sort of, and he’s a werewolf now.” 

The two of them sat in silence, then his father staggered to his feet and came over to give Stiles tight hug. “I love you kiddo, and I’m happy you told me everything.” He released Stiles and smacked him around the back of the head, “But you should have told me sooner. Now I’m going to bed because my head hurts, but you need to invite your wolves over for dinner again so I can grill them. And don’t think I didn’t notice you leaving out what happened the night of the dance, when Lydia was attacked.”

Stiles nodded, not knowing what else to do, then watched his father stagger from the room.


	3. Chapter Three

The last two weeks of school passed quickly for Stiles and Isaac. Stiles managed to get Isaac prepared for exams and they both felt fairly confident that he had passed and Stiles wasn’t worried about his results at all. 

The saddest thing about being at school was seeing Scott, who in the two weeks they were at school was completely focused on Alison. Stiles could understand him being concerned about how she was, but Scott never once asked what had happened to his face or asked if he was okay. And that hurt.

Jackson and Lydia had also returned to school after only a day off. The pair had expanded to include Danny. Stiles’ best guess about his inclusion was that Jackson had either told Danny, or Danny being fairly intelligent had figured it out for himself. Stiles wasn’t worried about Danny knowing about werewolves, after all Danny could keep a secret. He had shown that by not telling anyone that Derek had been hiding out at Stiles’ place, and he had definitely known who ‘Miguel’ was. Much to Stiles’ surprise when he and Isaac had informed Derek he hadn’t been concerned either.

The sheriff had come to terms with the werewolf reveal and had cornered both Derek and Peter at separate and numerous times to demand more information about the supernatural world and werewolves in particular. Stiles was also pretty sure that his dad had also ambushed Chris Argent at some point, as he’d seen Chris in the supermarket with a black eye, and his dad gotten his hands on some wolfs bane bullets.

Stiles had also goaded Derek into getting a more suitable place to live in. After all an abandoned train station or an burnt out building was not a healthy place for growing werewolves, a point Stiles had made in regards to Isaac, who was now living with him. Derek had ended up purchasing an entire building with a large loft in the industrial area, with the eye to in the future possibly developing the rest of the building into apartments. The loft had 3 bedrooms upstairs and a huge space downstairs with an open plan kitchen, living and dining area, as well as a large empty space for whatever Derek needed it for at the time. Stiles upon hearing that plan had immediately claimed one of future apartments for himself, ignoring his father’s rolled eyes. 

Now that it was the summer holiday, Stiles was planning to spend most of his time at the loft, co-ordinating the search for Erica and Boyd. They had spent many hours searching for the two of them, but they were still missing. When he was not searching he was planning to research the Alpha Pack and see if he could find any weaknesses they could take advantage of.

As a result he was at the supermarket picking up supplies to keep him and the wolves feed for the next couple of days. He even had Peter’s credit card which he had swiped the night before to pay for them.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Stiles stilled feeling the menace in the female’s voice, then slowly turned around a box of cereal in his hand. There was an attractive black woman standing a few metres down the aisle and he knew that she was an Alpha werewolf immediately. It was the confident way she held her strong body, the blood thirsty look in her eyes but the most tellingly was the sharp claws on both her hands and feet. Stiles shuddered, but probably not for the reason she thought by the smirk that appeared on her face, those toenails were disgusting, ewwwwww.

“A human who smells like wolf.”

“What do you mean ‘smells like wolf’ that doesn’t sound very nice.” Stiles quickly replied, trying to play stupid.

“Boy, don’t be an idiot. We’ve seen you running with the Hales, we are well aware that you know exactly who we are.” Her voice was harsh. 

Stiles pushed back against the shelves as she took a step forward, “So you decide to attack me in the supermarket? In public? That doesn’t seem like the smartest idea.”

“Oh, we’re not attacking you,” She looked up and down Stiles’ body with a hungry look, “Though maybe we should have a nibble.”

Stiles quickly turned so that his back was to the shelves, knowing that the danger had just increased. He could now see the second Alpha, he was a huge and brawny man who had his hugely muscled arms folded across his chest and was looking at Stiles hungrily.

“I could go for that, he looks delicious.” He rumbled and Stiles had the feeling that he wasn’t only thinking about biting Stiles.

“Not a good idea, I’d be far too stringy to taste any good.” Stiles protested. He leered at Stiles, but before he could comment again the confrontation was interrupted.

“Stiles?” Stiles had never been happier to see Chris Argent and his goons.

“Hi Mr Argent.” He chirped in greeting, waving a hand and noticing quickly that it was still holding the box of cereal, he quickly dropped it in his trolley.

“Argent.” The female Alpha stated, giving the man an assessing look.

Chris’s face was blank as he stared at the wolves and his men shifted to clear their lines of fire. Stiles pressed harder into the shelf, wanting to be as far away from any werewolves or potential bullets as possible.

The male wolf shifted away from Stiles and backed towards the woman, who was glaring at the Argents and Stiles. 

“We’ll see you again little human.” The woman said as they disappeared around the corner, Stiles slumped to the floor beside his trolley.

“Well that was terrifying.”

Chris nodded to his men who moved quickly to follow the wolves, and stepped up to where Stiles was sitting and offered him a hand up. Stiles took the offered hand and was easily pulled to his feet.

“Are you alright Stiles?”

Stiles nodded, “Just terrified out of my mind.” He wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans.

Chris studied him, “Who were they?”

“Alphas.” Stiles meet the man’s eyes, and studied him trying to decide how much to tell the man. “From the Alpha Pack, we’re pretty sure that they’re here to test Derek and possibly try to kill us all.”

Chris nodded at Stiles’ statement. “I’ve heard of the Alpha Pack. They’re known for leaving a trail of dead werewolves behind them.”

Stiles grimaced, “I’d guessed that that would probably be the case.” Stiles considered the man staring after the werewolves, “Is there any way I could have a copy of your information?”

Chris looked at Stiles, his blue eyes considering, then nodded abruptly, “Give me your email and I’ll send what I can.”

Stiles was startled, he hadn’t thought that the man would even consider helping the Pack. But quickly jotted his email down on the bottom of his shopping list and tore it off handing it to the man.

“I don’t like the Hale’s, but I like wolves like that even less.” He explained abruptly at Stiles’ confused expression. “James will stay with you until you’ve finished your shopping.” He nodded at the young blonde man who had returned from following the Alpha’s. 

The hunter looked startled at the order but nodded. “Of course Mr Argent.”

Stiles watched as he strode off with the other hunter trailing after him, then turned to James.  
“Hi I’m Stiles.”

“I know.” The young man’s face was expressionless.

Stiles stared at him suspiciously, “Do like cinnamon pop tarts or strawberry?”

The man looked slightly discombobulated at the question, “Cinnamon?”

“Excellent, you may help me shop.” Stiles stated before sailing off down the aisle, after tossing a couple of boxes of cinnamon pop tarts into his trolley.

It didn’t take long for Stiles to finish shopping with the reluctant help of James the hunter.  
They went through the checkout Stiles paying using his purloined credit card, causing the hunter to raise an eyebrow, “What, it’s not like I’m made of money.”

The man helped him load the groceries into the car. “Do you have a ride back to where ever you are going?” Stiles waved his arms around in question.

The hunter nodded at the black truck idling across the parking lot. 

“Good. Thanks for the help shopping.” Stiles jumped into the jeep and drove away from the supermarket, the hunter’s truck following for a few streets then pulling off.

“So,” Stiles started as he barged into the loft his arms full of grocery bags, “I meet some of the Alphas.”

All of the wolves in the room moved swiftly to Stiles, Isaac tearing the bags from Stiles arms and tossing them onto the kitchen bench, “Hey watch out there’s fruit in there.” Stiles protested even as both Derek and Peter started patting him down and sniffing to see if Stiles was injured.

“Why do you smell like hunter?” Derek demanded after pulling away to sneeze.

“Mr Argent and some of his men came to my rescue.” Stiles pouted. Then perked up, “And he agreed to send me what he knows about the Alpha Pack.”

Derek rolled his eyes at Stiles’ abrupt emotional change. “So you’re not injured?”

“Nope.” He popped the ‘p’. Stiles ignored Peter who was scenting him, trying to cover the smell of hunter on Stiles skin, and watched as Derek started to head back to the couch where he had been sitting when Stiles had entered, “Hey there’s more food in the jeep. I brought it, therefore you should fetch it.”

Peter lifted his head from Stiles’ shoulder, “I paid for it.”

“Eh, potato, potahto.” Stiles flailed. Isaac grinned at Stiles, lifting a hand to ruffle Stiles’ growing hair as he headed for the door to fetch the rest of the food. “See Isaac is a good boy.” 

Derek stared at him, so Stiles pulled out the big guns, “I’ll make my special chili.” And was almost surprised at how fast the wolves abandoned him to fetch the food, Peter included.

* * *

“Is that Peter Hale following us?” The sheriff murmured to his son as they moved through the supermarket.

“Yup.” Stiles reached up and grabbed a box of cereal, he studied the back for a moment and then tossed it into the trolley, “He’s been stalking me.”

The sheriff frowned slightly and watched as the werewolf pretended to look at some cereal, “Do I need to arrest him?”

“Nah,” Stiles pushed the trolley towards the end of the isle, ignoring the surprisingly inept werewolf ducking around the end of the isle, “He gave me a ride home yesterday after I dropped the jeep at the mechanics.”

“Helpful.” Was his father’s dry reply.

Stiles nodded, grabbing some cans of tomatoes to add to the trolley. “Yup.”

“Will I need to be fronting you some money for the jeep?” His dad asked. 

“Nope, Derek offered to pay since Betty was injured during werewolf related events. I accepted since he’s apparently loaded.”

“I still don’t know why you named your jeep Betty.” 

Stiles shrugged, “She looks like a Betty. And you wouldn’t let me have a pet, I needed to name something.”

“I worry about any future kids you have.”

“Hey,” Stiles was indignant, “What’s wrong with my naming skills?”

The sheriff sighed, and knowing there was no way to get out of that gracefully, bluntly went back to his original question. “So why is Peter Hale stalking you?”

“He’s my bodyguard.” Stiles murmured while comparing different cans of beans, trying to decide which would go better in his planned meals. Eventually he tossed both types in the trolley knowing that they wouldn’t go to waste.

“Why do you need a bodyguard?” His father asked with raised eyebrows, switching his sharp gaze between his son and the stalking werewolf.

“Alphas.” Stiles sounded distracted.

The sheriff trailed after his son. “Multiple Alphas? I thought you said that the Alpha was the head of a Pack? Does that mean there is more than one Pack in town?”

“No, just a Pack made up of Alphas.”

“How does that work?” He muttered to himself, before stopping suddenly.

Stiles not noticing that he was missing his father until he was in the next aisle, looked around for his father. Eventually finding him still in the previous aisle asked “Why’d you stop dad?”

“When did you run into the Alphas?” He demanded as Stiles moved back towards him.

“Yesterday, while I was shopping for food for the loft.” Stiles grabbed his father’s arm and tugged him onwards. “Mr Argent scared them off and left me with one of his men as a temporary guard.”

“And when were you going to tell me this?”

“I sent you a text last night.”

“No you didn’t.”

“Yes I did.” Stiles pulled out his phone to prove his point, “Or maybe I meant to send you a text.” He continued slightly chagrined. Showing his father the draft text that hadn’t been sent.

“Call me if it happens again.” He demanded.

“You’ll probably hear about it before I could call.”

“Why?”

“I’ve got a werewolf bodyguard, and I’ve noticed Chris’s men patrolling town regularly. So you’d probably have calls about brawls or shots fired, before I could call you.”

“That’s not exactly reassuring Stiles.” The sheriff sounded pained.

His son looked at him confused, “Don’t play the idiot Stiles.” He reprimanded.

Stiles stilled, “Don’t worry dad. I’ll be fine, if I have to I’ll take steps.” Stiles was serious and the Sheriff nodded.

“Your aunt Natalia called.” He changed the subject, ignoring Peter who had crept closer and slipped a packet of coffee into the trolley, then slid away again. “She and your uncle will be back from Italy in a month and she’s thinking about coming to visit.”

“Excellent.” Stiles tented his fingers, like Mr Burns.

“I worry about you sometimes.” The sheriff shook his head at his son’s behaviour, “She said you should call her, she found something she thinks you’ll like and wants to talk to you about it.”

“Ohhh present. Did she tell you what?” Stiles asked eagerly.

“No. She said you’d have to ring her to find out.” He stilled Stiles’ hand as he reached for his phone eagerly, “Later, son. We have to finish shopping and then discuss the fact that Peter just put a box of Oreos in the trolley.”

“What?” Stiles checked the trolley and pulled out the offending biscuits.

Stiles narrowed his eyes, then spun heading towards the rapidly retreating Peter Hale, “You, stop right there.” The sheriff laughed to himself as his son berated the older man, who was retreating from Stiles’ energetic pointing.  
 


	4. Chapter Four

A few weeks later Stiles was relaxing on the couch at Derek’s loft tossing popcorn at Isaac who was catching it in his mouth.

“I’ve got some more information for you Stiles.” Derek spoke from directly behind Stiles causing him to shriek and leap off the couch and slide to the floor. Popcorn fell into the air and both Isaac and Peter, who had been typing on his laptop, while reclining on the couch opposite the one Stiles and Isaac had taken over, snickered. 

Stiles climbed to his feet, “Evil, pure evil.” He stated while pointing dramatically at the Alpha staring at him with a straight face.

Derek eventually rolled his eyes and moved around to sit on a couch, nudging his uncle’s feet off the couch to make space for himself. “I heard back from one of the wolves Laura and I meet in New York.” 

Stiles hauled himself awkwardly back onto the couch, “Excellent.” He pulled a pen and notebook from the side of the couch, and stared at Derek.

Who stared back blankly wondering how long the pen and notebook had been in the couch.

“Well?” Stiles demanded.

“Her brother’s pack encountered the Alpha’s about a year ago.” Derek started.

“Where is his Pack based?” Stiles interrupted leaping up and heading for the map they had on the wall. Stiles had been documenting the various locations that the Alpha Pack had been seen in the last couple of years, using information supplied by Chris Argent and Derek and Peter. 

Chris had emailed Stiles a huge amount of information to start with and then had continued to feed him more as it apparently came in from his sources. Derek and Peter had also reached out to their various contacts, both wolves and other supernatural beings for any information they could get. Stiles had been compiling the information and had taken over a corner in the loft that now contained large white boards and maps, with the information all laid out.

Derek told him, and then carried on relating the rest of his information, ignoring Peter who had pick up the notebook and pen and Stiles who was flittering around his corner, making notes where needed on the various papers dotted on the white boards.

“Right, Carissa asked her brother for any information he had. Apparently the Pack in the neighbouring territory had an unsettled changeover of Alphas.” At Isaac curious look at him and Stiles popping over the back of the couch with an open mouth, he elaborated, “The old Alpha was killed by his twin sons who got sick of being the punching bags of the entire pack.”

Isaac frowned hating mentions of any sort of abuse, and Stiles ruffled his hair in comfort as he moved past the boy heading to his map again. “Does that mean that that Pack is now run by the twins?”

Derek glared at Stiles irritated by his interruption, “No.”

“Who’s in charge then?”

“No one, the entire pack is dead.”

“So the Alpha’s came in and killed them all.” Stiles asked a frown on his face, he tapped a pen against his lips, “Why? Did they endanger the secrecy of werewolfdom?”

“Werewolfdom? Really Stiles how do you come up with these words?” Derek asked rolling his eyes. 

“Please Sourwolf, you knew exactly what I meant.” He flapped a hand at Derek, encouraging him to continue.

“Not from what Carissa heard from her brother. They were recruiting.”

Stiles eyes went wide with the information and he scrambled over to his profile board. “Elaborate now.”

“Aiden and Ethan Carver, twins, about the same age as you. Aiden and Ethan are now the fourth and fifth members of the Alpha Pack.”

Stiles scrawled the information down and then hummed, “So that’s the entire Alpha Pack? Deucalion, Kali, Ennis and the twins.” He spun to Derek, “Can you get a photo of the twins?”

Who shook his head, “No, Carissa said that they only realised that there was twins in the Carver Pack when they killed their Alpha. They didn’t attend the local school and none of her brother’s Pack had ever seen them before.”

Stiles frowned, “I’m finding it hard to feel sorry for the old Alpha. Why’d they kill the rest of their pack?”

Peter spoke up, “Initiation. Deucalion discovered that if you kill your betas you get a power boost, so as a requirement he makes any new Alpha’s wanting to join his pack do the same thing.”

Derek shuddered, he couldn’t imagine how an Alpha could go against their instincts and commit such an atrocity. “When did you find that out Peter?”

“Yesterday Gloria, from the Dorcas Pack,” he added for Stiles benefit who immediately flittered back over to his map, and following Peter’s identification of location added the name, “contacted me with a bit more information about the structure of the Alpha Pack, she told me about the initiation. She also told me that since the establishment of the pack, Deucalion, Kali and Ennis have between them killed over a dozen alphas that have joined the pack then disappointed them and that’s only the numbers that their Pack knows about.”

The four in the room were silent considering the ruthlessness and lack of reverence of life that that sort of behaviour required. 

Isaac interrupted the silence in a quiet worried voice, “We’re not going to beat them are we.”

“Of course we are.” Stiles was confident causing all the wolves to look at him, “Your guys are forgetting one thing, normally wolf packs are not part of the local community and therefore they are isolated without a support network. Whereas if any of us go missing it would create a big fuss, and I don’t think any of the other packs had Argents supporting them.” 

Chris had slowly been moving more men who were loyal to him into town, setting up a solid hunting base in town. Derek and Peter had hated it, but had become a bit less worried when they realised how closely the Sheriff was supervising and inspecting the men, and in fact had arrested a number of them for outstanding warrants and permit problems. The men that Chris had in town now were well aware that there was a local werewolf pack and that they were more welcome in town than the hunters. 

As well as that most had at some point been ambushed by Stiles who interrogated them as to their history and food preferences, often with a wolf hovering behind him. His ambushes had led to a lot of amusement for Chris and his father who were often able to witness Stiles ability to completely bamboozle a person with his strange questions and abrupt subject jumps, often getting far more out of the men than they knew. Peter enjoyed watching Stiles at work and was often the hovering wolf.

James and his hunting partner, Reynold, who had been at the supermarket when Stiles had had his first and only confrontation with the two of the Alpha’s were the most common victims of Stiles, as Chris often assigned them to watch over Stiles and whoever was the watch wolf for that day. 

In fact Stiles had learnt an interesting fact about the way the ‘Argent Clan’ was structured. The Argent’s weren’t only made up of people born into the Argent bloodline, but also included a number of minor families who made up the numbers. The families sent some of their sons into service of the Clan as soldiers, but the rest of the family made up the support system and included doctors, people in law enforcement and other professions that supplied any sort of support needed. In fact Stiles had discovered that James was from one of these families, and had a younger brother who was going to be joining him as a hunter in the next year. He also had two younger sisters, one who was studying law at Yale and the other was training as a nurse.

Reynold on the other hand had been adopted into the Clan after he was attacked by an Omega wolf and managed to survive. He had no family but was currently seeing a local girl, who he quite liked.

Stiles’ father had also told some of his most trusted deputies the truth about the last year’s events and had been surprised by Deputy Lisa Harper admitting that she already knew about werewolves because her family occasionally spawned someone with natural magical abilities. Stiles had of course immediately ambushed Lisa and then her mother for more information, luckily the older woman was more amused by Stiles’ questions that irritated and had given him a solid general base for him to build his future magical knowledge.

The added support of the influx of hunters into the area and the support of the Sheriff’s department, helped Stiles to feel confident about the coming fight with the Alpha Pack. 

Stiles still in cheer-leading mode carried on, “We’ve also managed to gather lots of information about the Alpha Pack’s tactics and make up. We’ve managed to build up a solid knowledge base about Deucalion, Kali and Ennis, adding to what Derek and Peter were able to tell us initially. We know that Deucalion is the most dangerous of them as he is the head Alpha of the Pack, but that is inclined to let Kali and Ennis do most of the work until the very last minute. We know that Kali has creepy claws, even if her human form.” He shuddered at the memory, “Very creepy claws. Ennis is strong, but not the brightest bulb in the box, and now we know about the newest members, who are young and probably not as blood thirsty as the others.” The others were looking a bit more positive about their chances against the Alphas now. So Stiles carried on with the main idea he had come up with for defeating the Alphas, “I think we need to separate them and take then out individually. I don’t think that we’ll be able to take them on in a head on fight as a group. Although with the knowledge we’ve got about the twins I do wonder if we could lure them away from the Alpha Pack.”

Derek and Peter looked at him considering his plan. But Derek did have to clarify one point, “Do you really think that I want two alphas who slaughtered their Pack in my territory?” 

“Please,” Stiles rolled his eyes, “I didn’t mean to accept them into the Pack, I meant we should figure out how to take away their Alphaness and then banish them.” Stiles elaborated.

Peter quirked an eyebrow, “And how do you think we could take away their ‘alphaness’?”

“I was going to ask Mrs Harper.” Stiles was quick to reply.

“I thought she was human?” Isaac asked.

“Please, she didn’t say it but she knew far too much to not be magic herself.” Stiles waved his hands around.

“So you’re going to ambush her, inform her you know she’s magical and then demand a favour?” Derek stated, wondering if the young man in front of him had any idea how dangerous magical people could be.

Stiles scoffed, “Please I’m not that stupid, I was going to ask her if she could ask her contacts to see if anyone had any ideas. I’m not stupid enough to endanger my batch of Fourth of July cookies.”

Derek sometimes wondered about the humans priorities.

“Does she still put dark chocolate bits in them?” His uncle asked.

“Oh yes, but she’s also managed to figure out how to make cookies that taste like apple pie.” Stiles looked like he was going to start to drool, while Peter was staring dreamily into the distance.

Derek looked at Isaac who shrugged and they shared a look that said, why are these people our family and friends?

While they had been looking at each Peter had managed to come back to earth. “Which of the Alpha’s would you suggest we tackle first, Stiles.” 

Stiles jolted, “Ennis.” He tapped the Alpha’s photo on his board. Stiles had a number of reasons for suggesting that they take out Ennis first, but the most important reason, which he would never admit out loud was because he knew that Ennis was the Alpha that had bit Paige, and Stiles wanted him dead. “From our information he’s the least intelligent of them and I think it will be easiest to lure him into a trap.” He frowned slightly irritated, “Well if anyone ever actually sees him, or any of the pack.” 

Since his confrontation with Kali and Ennis in the supermarket there had only been the briefest of sightings of them, and since no one knew what the twins looked like it was impossible to know if they had been seen and no sightings of Deucalion at all.

* * *

Stiles was at home alone for once, slouched on his bed in his pyjamas and playing Call Of Duty with a few of his online buddies. He wasn’t having much success so when the doorbell rang he was almost happy with the interruption. He paused the game and headed downstairs to the door, he looked through the peephole and was surprised to see Lydia Martin standing impatiently on the other side. He looked down at himself noticing for the first time just how messy he looked, there were Dorito stains on his pyjama pants and his singlet stained with orange juice. But then he shrugged, deciding that he didn’t actually care what he looked like.  
He swung open the door open and leaned against the frame. “Lydia. How can I help you?” He hadn’t spoken to Lydia since driving her to the warehouse to save Jackson and was wondering what she possibly wanted after all these weeks.

“Stiles? How come you’re not dressed?” She demanded, looking at him. “It’s 3 o’clock in the afternoon.”

“So it’s not like I’m doing anything that requires dressing up.”

She stared at him obviously waiting something, but eventually giving up as Stiles just stared at her, “Can I come in?”

“Oh sure.” Stiles stepped back and gestured her in. “Do you want something to drink?” 

“No. That’s fine.” She looked around the hallway and then followed Stiles as he wandered into the living room, deciding that taking her up to his room might send her respect for him down even further, not that he believed she had any respect for him. 

Stiles settled onto the couch, “So what can I do for you Lydia?” He knew that she must want something and he was guessing it was something to do with Jackson.

“I need some information.” Stiles waited for her to elaborate. She frowned a little, “Actually Jackson and I need some information.”

Stiles nodded, waiting for her to gather her thoughts.

“He’s been doing some things that Danny and I can’t make sense of,” she frowned, “And we can’t find any information for ourselves.”

“Give me some examples and if I know why it’s happening I’ll let you know what I know.”

She smiled pleased with that and sat on a free seat. She pulled a notebook and pen from her handbag and prepared to take notes, “He is touching both Danny and I a lot more than he was before he was bitten.”

Stiles nodded, “Werewolves are very tactile. It helps to helps strengthen the bonds within their pack, and therefore increasing the strength of the wolves.” Stiles cocked his head and thought, “I’m not surprised to hear that Jackson is touching you and Danny more now that he is a werewolf. I suspect he sees you two as his pack, either consciously or subconsciously.” Stiles tilted his head in thought, “Have you noticed if you and Danny are touching more often as well?”

Lydia considered the interactions between the two of them, “Yes, we have been more tactile with each other since Jackson became a werewolf.”

“According to Derek and Peter,” Lydia scowled at the mention of Peter, which Stiles ignored not really caring how she felt about Peter using her in his resurrection, “Even humans in a pack can form pack bonds between each other.”

“You’ve mentioned pack bonds a couple of times. Can you explain what they are and their importance?”

“Pack bonds are the bonds that form between individual members of a pack. There are number of different bonds that can form depending on the relationship between the individuals. One is the mate bond, which forms between a wolf and their mate, who can be either a wolf or a human. It’s a permanent bond that is formed through when the wolf bites their mate and it leaves a physical scar, the bond can have a number of effects on the two involved. Peter mentioned empathy and telepathy, plus the ability to always know where your mate is and if they are in danger. If one of the pair dies the other often follows, but if they don’t they will never form a mate bond to another individual, but may be able to fall in love again.”

Lydia stopped taking notes as Stiles was explaining mate bonds and Stiles knew that she and Jackson had probably mated by instinct. Stiles was slightly upset, but the weeks since the warehouse had lessened the pain of knowing that he would never have her, plus Peter was growing on him. 

So he carried on explaining the different types of bonds. “The next type of bond you should know about is the bond between Alpha and beta. These bonds are what the stability of a Pack rests on. The Alpha’s power comes from his betas and in return the Alpha supports and helps the betas gain control over the abilities that come with being werewolves. The Alpha uses the bond to make sure that their betas are healthy and happy, and the betas do the same for their Alpha.” Lydia had quickly regained her composure and was taking notes.

“Does a beta need an Alpha?”

“If a werewolf doesn’t have an Alpha then they are an omega, a lone wolf and therefore weaker than a beta.” Stiles refuted her statement.

“Jackson isn’t weak, nor is he alone.”

Stiles tilted his head trying to think of a way to phrase what he meant. “He’s not as strong, or fast as a beta, nor is his healing as fast as it could be. Being a part of a pack lead by an Alpha makes all the members stronger, even the humans.” 

Lydia listened to his statement, but moved on to something else she had noticed, “Jackson’s body temperature has risen by a few degrees.”

Stiles nodded, “Werewolves run hot, I’m pretty sure it’s something to do with the fact that their metabolism is faster than a humans.”

“So it is normal for him to be eating a lot more food, in particular meat and high carb food, then?”

“Yes, in fact if he doesn’t eat enough it will weaken him. His speed will lessen, his strength will be reduced and his ability to heal will be compromised. In fact I would suggest that you stash supplies in various places so if he needs them they are available. Healing needs a lot of fuel.”  
Lydia nodded accepting Stiles’ suggestion, “I’ll make sure Danny does that as well. Jackson is also very aware of scents. I had to change my perfume because it keep making him sneeze.”

“That’s not a surprise, scent is probably the most important sense for werewolves. It’s the strongest of their senses and gives them the most information about their surroundings. Derek says that once they have identified the base scents of the people around them it can help them know how people are feeling, both emotionally and physically; family members; who they have been spending time with; what they have been doing; and a whole lot of other things. It can also help them in figuring out who belongs to what Pack, when multiple Packs are interacting as well.”

Lydia tilted her head, “So if Jackson smelt you he could identify your father and that you are part of Derek’s pack?”

Stiles nodded, “Just like he can probably scent your parents and himself on you and when you get home he will know you’ve been around me.”

“Do we have to worry about the hunters in town?” She asked abruptly.

“No,” Stiles shook his head, “all the hunters in town should be Argent men and Chris has identified all the known wolves in town for them and put the word out that they are not to be touched.”

“Chris? I thought the Argents were matriarchal.” Lydia questioned.

“Chris.” Stiles was firm, “No one in Derek’s Pack trusts Alison, and that includes me.”

“She’s my best friend Stiles and she’s sorry.”

“She helped capture Erica and Boyd so that her crazy ass murderous grandfather could torture them, and she filled Isaac with knives.” Lydia jerked away from Stiles at his venomous tone. “It will take a lot for me to trust her again.”

“But you trust her father?”

“Chris drew a line and has stuck to it, so yes I trust him at the moment.” Stiles was feeling a little angry at the mention of Alison. “Have you got another questions?”

Lydia studied him, then gracefully rose to her feet tucking her notebook into her handbag. “Not at the moment, I’ll contact you if I have any other questions.” Stiles walked her to the door and she turned to him, “Thank you for your help Stiles.”

“No problem Lydia, feel free to come around if you or Danny have any questions and I’ll try my best to help.”

Stiles watched Lydia walk to her car and drive away. When he went inside the house his let his strict control of body go, allowing it to reflect how he was feeling, his fists clenched and he ground his teeth. That had been a very difficult conversation, not because of the questions Lydia had asked, but because he was still feeling heart sore from realising that he would never have a chance to be with Lydia, and then the mention of Alison and Gerard. The knowledge that Lydia and Jackson had mated was also painful. Stiles headed back upstairs to his room and settled on his bed, taking a handful of Doritos, trying to relax and come to terms with his feelings.

Stiles knew that he was going to have to get over his hurt at Lydia and Jackson’s mating, because he had no doubt that Lydia would figure out that the safest and best place for Jackson was to be a part of Derek’s pack and therefore both of them and Danny would soon be part of the Pack. Stiles reached for his phone and flicked a text off to Derek letting him know that he had spoken to Lydia and what they had talked about. He also flicked off a text to Peter telling him that Lydia still despised him and that she had mated with Jackson, which Stiles hadn’t mentioned to Derek. Peter replied first with a comment about how he wasn’t surprised by Lydia’s feeling and that she seemed like the type to hold a grudge. Derek’s text on the other hand was very Derek-like with only one word, good. Peter’s second text reached Stiles as he was reading Derek’s, asking how he felt about the mating. Stiles thought for only a moment before replying that he was happy for Lydia and that obvious she and Jackson were well suited to each other if they’d managed to mate by instinct.

Not long after Stiles had put his phone down and was trying to decide whether to keep playing his game or watch a movie he heard the front door open and then close. His father wasn’t due open for hours, and he wasn’t expecting anyone, but Stiles could give it a good guess who it was. 

“When did you get a key to my house Peter?” He called out.

“A while ago,” was the calm response of the man who wandered into his room. “I knew it would come in handy sometime.” Stiles snorted unsurprised by the answer and then slumped onto the man when he settled on the bed next to him.

“I think we should watch a movie.”

“Huh?” Stiles asked.

“A movie, Stiles. What do you want to watch, bearing in mind that my darling nephew and the baby wolf will probably be over in a little while.”

“Why?” Stiles whined. He had wanted the time to himself to come to terms with his feelings.  
Peter looked down at the boy leaning on him, did he not realise that his sorrow had been echoing through the pack bonds and that he was just the first to arrive to try and soothe it.

“There’s no food at Derek’s loft and I think we’re all getting sick of take out.”

“I’m not cooking for you greedy wolves.” 

“Derek’s picking up stuff for a barbeque.”

Stiles hand whipped out to pick up his phone, “They’d better be bringing something other than meat.” Stiles muttered as he flicked off a text to their Alpha, “Salad or rice, salad’s probably better.”

Peter pushed the muttering boy off him and stood, rifling through the DVD collection on Stiles’ bookshelf and pulling out his choice as Stiles hadn’t told him what movie he wanted to watch.

“Really Peter? Hook? That’s what you chose?” Peter rolled his eyes and manhandled to protesting young man so that he was leaning on the headboard then settled so that his head was in Stiles’ lap. Even as Stiles mocked Peter’s choice of movie his hands were moving to start running his fingers through Peter’s hair.

* * * 

Stiles sneezed violently, his body protested the abrupt movement and he began coughing painfully. He hated being sick, the sneezing, the coughing, the running nose and the fever, it all added up to a miserable Stiles. Melissa had been by earlier that morning after Stiles’ father had given her a call. His father had been pretty sure it was the flu when Stiles had woken, coughing and shivering, and whining about the cold, especially since it had been an exceptionally hot summer morning. 

She had popped by on her way to work and confirmed that Stiles had picked up a case of the flu, she had ordered Stiles to take paracetamol and to make sure that he drank lots of water. She had told the Sheriff that Stiles should be fine, but that they needed to make sure his temperature didn’t rise, but if it did to take him to the doctors.

Stiles had refused to go back to bed after making his way downstairs, so his father had set Stiles up on the couch with a pile of water bottles, a blanket and a thermometer. His dad had also cued up Netflix for him so that he could spend the rest of the day relaxing and watching movies. He had also asked if Stiles wanted him to call Scott or one of the pack to keep him company, but he’d told his father no. Scott was at summer school, trying to make sure his grades would be high enough for the next year and the wolves in the pack were busy searching for Erica and Boyd. So Stiles was snuggled up on the couch, all by himself at home in the middle of watching the first Avengers movie.

Stiles coughed again and looked around for the open bottle of water that was supposed to be tucked into the couch next to him to soothe his throat. After spotting it he wiggled his right arm out of his cocoon exposing as little as possible of the rest of his body to the air. He managed to grasp the bottle and take a mouthful of the water, the coolness soothing his throat. However the little bit of air that managed to touch his skin sent a shiver of cold through his body.

He re-wrapped himself in his cocoon and continued to sleepily watch the Avengers who were now arguing in the helicarrier. Time seemed to pass quickly and before he knew it the movie was ending and Stiles was debating whether to watch another movie or nap when he heard his front door open. “Dad is that you?” He called hoarsely.

“No.” Derek’s voice called back. “Your dad called me and told me you were sick.” Derek stepped into the room and repressed a smile at the pathetic sight of Stiles cocooned in blankets, “Aren’t you hot wrapped up like that?”

“Noooo. It’s freezing.” Stiles was almost completely wrapped up with just a tuft of slowly growing hair and red-rimmed amber eyes peeking out of the cocoon. “What have you got in your hands?” Stiles croaked out, curiosity appearing in his eyes as he stared at the container in Derek’s hands.

“I brought some soup.” Derek replied moving over to Stiles and gently pressing the back of his hand to Stiles’ forehead to see just how hot he was. Hot but not dangerously so.

“Soup?” Stiles asked, “What kind of soup?” He was focused on the container, and had ignored Derek’s actions.

“Chicken noodle, it’s my mother’s recipe.” Derek’s voice was kind of sad, “She always used to make it for Alec when he was sick.” Stiles recognised the name from the fire report, died age 6, youngest of the Hale siblings. “It always made him feel better so Peter and I made it for you.”

“Thanks Sourwolf. I can’t wait to try it.” Stiles murmured, using his head to comfortingly nudge the hand that was combing through his sweaty hair.

“Are you hungry now?” Derek asked with a small smile at Stiles’ actions.

Stiles nodded, “A little.”

“I’ll go and heat it up for you.” Derek headed out of the room. He headed for the kitchen and Stiles heard him opening the cupboards and then the microwave starting. It wasn’t long before Derek was moving back into the living room a bowl in one hand and a spoon in the other. He gently put the bowl and spoon on the side table and moved to Stiles gently but firmly unwrapping him, ignoring the protesting noises and wiggling. And soon Stiles was unwrapped and sitting upright on the couch with Derek next to him, steadying the bowl while Stiles took small spoonful’s of soup.

“This is really tasty Derek. Thanks for bringing it over.”

Derek smiled at him, “It was about the only thing my mum could make. She tried occasionally, but god.” Derek huffed in sad amusement. “She was horrible in the kitchen, dad banned her when she managed to set fire to some cookies.” Stiles smiled, Derek rarely spoke about his family. “Dad said that she could make this because whoever was drinking it was already ill.” 

Stiles leaned against Derek tiredly, listening to Derek talk, but no longer drinking his soup. Derek noticed just in time to stop Stiles from spilling the soup and gently took the bowl and the spoon from Stiles placing them on the side table. 

Stiles blinked sleepily, not protesting at all as Derek rearranged them so that Derek was on his back and he was sprawled comfortably on top of Derek. When they were settled Derek moved a hand up to cup the back of Stiles’ neck and black veins soon appeared on his skin as he took Stiles’ pain. 

Stiles hummed in relief as the general ache of his body and the soreness of his throat disappeared. “Is this you feeling sorry for the sick human?”

Derek’s light chuckle vibrated in his chest, “No this is an Alpha wolf providing for a sick Pack member.”

“Have I told you I’m happy being in your Pack, Sourwolf.”

“No, but I had guessed.” 

“Don’t bite me.” Stiles murmured, “I like being human.” 

Derek felt like rolling his eyes, Stiles had been very clear about that. “I won’t.” He promised. 

“Unless I’m dying, you can bite me then.” Derek could barely hear Stiles’ sleepy muttering. “Bite me a lot.”

“Yes Stiles, if you’re dying I’ll give you the bite.” Was the last thing Stiles heard as he drifted in to sleep.

A week later and Stiles had recovered from his bout of the flu. The wolves in the pack had been regular visitors to the house bringing food and staying with Stiles, both keeping him entertained and do their pain leeching thing. The sheriff had gotten used to the sight of his son curled up with one of the wolves, but the first time he had come in and found Stiles fast asleep drooling on Peter Hale’s shoulder he had almost drawn his gun.

He had halted his instinctive movement, however when he had noticed the protective hold the werewolf had on his son. He and Peter had stared at each other for a long moment, their staring finally interrupted by his son coughing and clutching the werewolf’s hair tighter, causing said wolf to flinch in pain.

The sheriff smirked at the wolf who was gently trying to disengage his son’s octopus like limbs. He was used to being in Peter’s position because whenever Stiles got sick he turned into an octopus, clutching at the nearest person and latching onto them with incredible strength.  
Stiles was always embarrassed by his behaviour after he recovered, but that didn’t stop it. His father and Scott, who had been the usual victims, always reassured him that they didn’t mind. The sheriff had noticed that the wolves not only didn’t seem to mind, but he had seen them encouraging Stiles behaviour, enjoying the physical contact with their Pack member. The sheriff had asked Derek about it a few days in and Derek had said that Pack bonds were strengthened by physical contact and being able to provide for Pack members, especially when that member was ill. 

Now even after Stiles had gotten over the flu the wolves still hauled him around positioning him to their preference. The sheriff could see that Stiles was enjoying the treatment. He had also noticed that Stiles was touching him more often, casually touching his shoulder as he walked past and hugging him when he left the house.   
 


	5. Chapter Five

The sheriff was enjoying his morning coffee and newspaper when he heard a knock on the door. He looked at the kitchen clock and wondered who would be calling at eight o’clock on a Saturday morning. When he answered it, coffee still in hand, he wasn’t surprised to find Derek, Peter and Isaac on the doorstep.

“Good morning Sheriff,” Peter greeted him, while Derek gave him a nod and Isaac gave a short wave.

“Morning boys. What can I do for you today?” Peter narrowed his eyes at being called a boy, but decided not to object when the Sheriff smiled sharply at him.

“We were wondering if you minded us borrowing Stiles for the rest of the day and tonight? He’ll be returned safe and sound tomorrow.” Derek asked politely. The sheriff considered Derek’s request, taking in Isaac’s eager expression and the both the Hale’s purposely blank faces and knew that whatever they were planning was important.

“Isn’t it the full moon tonight?” He asked.

Peter nodded, “Yes, but he’ll be perfectly safe Sheriff.”

The sheriff nodded, knowing that none of them would endanger Stiles, “Sure, but one of you has to wake him up.”

Derek and Peter immediately turned to look at Isaac, who pouted at being the chosen one. Obviously all three of them knew what Stiles was like when woken early in the day. The sheriff watched in amusement as Isaac eventually capitulated and headed upstairs.

“Do you two want a coffee while Isaac tries to get Stiles out of bed?” The sheriff offered.

Both Hale’s nodded, but Peter looked especially grateful. “Yes please Sheriff. My nephew dragged me out of bed and didn’t let me have my normal morning coffee.”

“Get over it Uncle Peter.” Derek growled as he followed the sheriff into the kitchen. There was a loud thump and shouting from upstairs that the three men ignored.

“How do take it?” The sheriff asked as he pulled a couple of mugs from the cupboard and headed for the coffee machine.

“Black.” Was Derek’s short reply.

“Milk and sugar please sheriff.” Peter was almost hovering trying to inhale the smell of the coffee. It didn’t take the sheriff long to make the coffees using the milk that Derek handed him from the fridge.

There was another thump and a high pitched squeal from upstairs. “Was that Isaac?” the sheriff asked curiously.

Derek nodded. There was another squeal and a cackle of evil sounding laughter and the three men decided to pretend they couldn’t hear anything, “So what are you planning that you need Stiles?” the Sheriff asked casually.

Both wolves studied him for a moment, before Derek answered. “There’s a full moon ritual that my family always did on this moon and I thought that it would be nice for the Pack to do it again.”

The sheriff nodded, it had been very clear when Stiles was sick that he was part of the Pack. It was also nice to see that the Hale’s were healing and starting to revive the family traditions that had gone uncelebrated since the fire. He knew that Stiles would love taking part and learning all about another werewolf tradition.

“Stiles will enjoy that. Well once he wakes up and gets some coffee in him.” He smiled wryly at the two wolves.

Isaac came stomping down the stairs and all three of them turned to look at him, “He won’t be too long, he’s taking a shower and then packing some stuff for tonight.”

The men all nodded, and the Sheriff nodded at the coffee machine in invitation. Isaac smiled at the sheriff, but shook his head. Instead he took a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water from the tap.

There was a comfortable silence as they waited for Stiles to get ready. The sheriff picked up the paper again, handing Derek the news section and the cartoon section went to Isaac, while Peter communed with his coffee. It wasn’t long until Stiles tumbled down the stairs in a mess of flailing of limbs and bounced into the kitchen moving immediately into Peter’s space and stealing his newly refilled coffee. Peter rolled his eyes but let Stiles finish his drink without protesting.

Stiles hugged his father goodbye and the wolves wished him a nice day as the four of them left the house. Stiles scrambled into the front of the cayenne, leaving Peter and Isaac to sit in the back while Derek drove.

“So wolfies. Why’d you have to wake me up at this time of day on a Saturday morning?” Stiles asked, expressing his curiously at the early morning wake up call for the first time. “And on the full moon as well?”

Derek smirked, but ignored Stiles question and the other two followed their Alpha’s lead. Stiles nagged and whined but none of the wolves budged in their silence causing Stiles to slump pouting in his seat, well until they arrived at the loft.

Stiles bounded out of the car and up to the loft, leaving Isaac, Derek and Peter to follow him. After a quick scuffle Derek shoved Stiles’ bag at Peter who carried it up. They heard Stiles barge into the loft, and Derek rolled his eyes unsurprised that Stiles had a key to his loft. He was also pretty sure that Stiles had figured out where his uncle’s apartment was and no doubt had a key for there as well.

Stiles was waiting for them when they entered the loft, staring at Derek demandingly with his hands on his hips. “Well?” He demanded. Peter and Isaac slipped past their Alpha, Peter dropping Stiles’ bag just inside the door and taking a seat on the couch staring at the two, while Isaac perched on the stairs so that both of them had a good view.

“Fine. It’s the full moon and all the pack should be together.”

“You’re not going to kill and then eat me are you?” Stiles asked suspiciously.

Peter and Isaac laughed, while Derek rolled his eyes, “Yes Stiles, we came and picked you up from your father’s house letting him know that we were bringing you to the loft and he would see you tomorrow, so that we can kill and eat you.”

“Right, so what are we doing if you’re not going to eat me?”

“Pack ritual.”

Stiles’ eyes widened in excitement, “Ohhh, what are we doing?”

Derek’s mouth tilted in a small smile, “We’re going to do a Pack reaffirmation, strengthening our Pack bonds.”

Stiles’ smile grew into a grin. “Woohoo.” He did a celebratory dance causing the wolves in the room to laugh. Then he leapt at Derek and engulfed him in a big hug, then dashed over to Isaac and dragged him over to the couch where Peter was sitting before shoving him down next to Peter. He jumped excitedly onto them, wiggling until he was positioned on top of them and staring at Derek with bright eyes. “Details, oh Alpha mine.”

Derek moved over and sat on opposite couch. “The moon doesn’t rise until two hours after sunset tonight so we’re going to spend the day as a Pack.”

“Puppy piles.” Crowed Stiles.

Derek ignored Stiles interjection and carried on talking, “Then at sunset we’re going to head into the preserve and we’re going to run as a pack…” Stiles groaned at the thought of running. Derek smirked at his pain, but then continued, “…to the heart of the preserve, where we will perform the ritual, then we’ll come home and sleep.”

“What exactly takes place during the ritual?” Stiles asked.

“What don’t you trust me Stiles?” Derek asked playfully.

Although it had been asked in a light tone Stiles knew that the question was actually fairly serious, “Of course, Alpha.” He answered leaning against his pack mates and tilting his head in submission. Derek rumbled in pleasure as Stiles submitted to him, his wolf pleased with the actions of its beta.

The rest of the day was spent watching movies in a comfortable pile, everyone trying to keep a hand on their pack mates, with the occasional break for food, the betas instinctively providing for their Alpha. The day passed quickly and soon Derek was driving his Pack to the reserve, knowing that his human beta would have struggled going on foot.

The car pulled up a fair distance from the old Hale house and the pack climbed out of the car. Stiles had changed into comfortable clothing for the run, while the wolves had changed into clothes that they didn’t mind ruining, knowing from previous full moons that it was likely that their clothing would be torn and mostly destroyed by the end of the night.

The wolves shifted into their beta forms and after looking at Stiles who nodded, the Alpha howled, with his pack joining in the chorus. Then the Pack ran. Stiles had a wild smile on his face as he ran with his Pack, the wolves circling out and around him, chasing and playfully snapping at each other’s heels. There was always a wolf close by, but who it was changed constantly. Occasionally it was Isaac who playfully ran around him, other times it was Derek, his Alpha leading him in a change of direction, but most commonly it was Peter, who was content in brushing against him and helping him with obstacles in the path. The run passed as a blur of happy howls, branches and friendly nudges from his pack mates and it seemed like no time at all before they reached the clearing.

In the centre of the clearing there was a giant stump of a large tree. Stiles approached it and gently laid a hand on it, feeling the sorrow that surrounded it. His pack mates gently pressed against him comfortingly until his Alpha nudged him away from the stump and into the middle of clear space.

“Maelgwyn Stilinksi, you run under the light of the full moon with the Hale Pack. Do you reaffirm your place in my Pack.” Derek’s voice was deep and seemed to echo through the clearing.

“Yes Alpha.” Stiles was confident.

“Submit.”

Stiles dropped to his knees in front of his Alpha, tilting his head back and exposing his throat in submission. His Alpha firmly placed his hand around Stiles’ throat, accepting Stiles’ submission. Derek rumbled in welcome feeling the bond that had connected Stiles to the Pack strengthen and the betas howled in happiness as they too felt it. 

He leaned back and made eye contact with Stiles. “Beta.” He rumbled.

“Alpha.” Stiles stretched up and rubbed his cheek along his Alpha’s jaw, scent marking him.  
The ritual was repeated with Peter and Isaac, and Stiles could feel the Pack bonds tightening and strengthening as each Pack member reaffirmed their place in the Pack. 

After accepting his Pack submission, Derek dropped to his knees in front of Stiles and leaned in, pressing his teeth to Stiles’ neck. Stiles stilled, but trusted that his Alpha would heed his decision to not take the bite and remain human. Derek rewarded his trust by using his teeth to mark Stiles, but not break the skin. 

He then shifted over to Peter and then Isaac, but when he moved away from each of them blood was staining his teeth. Stiles was curious about the order that Derek had chosen, but let the curiosity fade away, knowing that right now it was Pack time. As one the Pack lifted their heads to let out a howl, celebrating the newly strengthened Pack bonds.

When the howl drifted to a close, Stiles had a second to appreciate the look of surprise on Derek’s face before there was a shimmer in the air and suddenly there was a large black wolf where their Alpha had been.

“Derek?” Peter asked incredulously, as the three of them stared at the wolf in surprise.

* * *

A few days after the full moon, Stiles and the rest of the Pack were still trying to figure out why Derek had spontaneously shifted into a wolf. They knew that all Alpha’s have an Alpha form, both Stiles and Derek had witnessed Peter’s alpha form before his death, but it had been distorted and not at all like a true wolf, and that was true for most alphas. 

However Talia, Derek’s mother, had been able to shift into a true wolf form. Peter didn’t know the details of when she had gained the ability, but did know that it was supposedly a Hale trait that popped up every few generations. Nor did he know how Derek could gain control of the ability.

So Peter had been carefully approaching trusted Wolf Packs to see if they had any information implying that it was a research project to be added to the Hale Archives, not wanting anyone to know of Derek’s ability while it was still uncontrolled. The knowledge that the Hale’s had an archive had made Stiles’ eyes gleam in interest and he had started pestering Peter for access to it. Peter was teasing him by refusing to tell him where it was located, and appearing every few days with new books and information for Stiles to look over. Stiles pouted every time Peter refused to tell him where, but allowed himself to be distracted by the presents. 

While Peter was asking other Packs for information Stiles was using the information from the archive and the web to see if he could find any information that they didn’t know. He was also keeping quiet about Derek’s new ability, aware that while Derek didn’t know how to use his ability he was vulnerable and therefore the Pack was vulnerable.

The combined results of Stiles and Peter’s research were slowly building up a deeper pool of information that Derek was using to try and figure his ability out, but hadn’t yet gained complete control. 

Stiles was taking a break from researching, as his father had ordered him out of the house to go clothes shopping as his supply of presentable clothing was rapidly reducing. Hanging out with werewolves was hard on the clothing. So he was at the mall by himself, wandering from shop to shop trying to find clothing he wanted. He had already brought two t-shirts, one with Iron Man on it and one with Loki, but was still looking as he guessed his father wouldn’t accept him just buying two t-shirts. He had been at the mall for half an hour before he felt eyes on him and knew that he was being followed. He was subtly keeping an eye out and soon spotted Isaac, snickering to himself he detoured into the comic book shop to try and catch Isaac off guard. He circled around and managed to come up behind Isaac who had followed him into the shop.  
“You are not my regular stalker.” Isaac barely managed to hide his surprised jolt and turned to glare at Stiles, who was standing behind him grinning.

“No, but your regular stalker was busy.” Isaac answered, giving Stiles a quick hug.

“What was he doing?” Stiles asked curiously as they broke apart.

“I’m not sure and I don’t think I want to know.” Isaac shook his head, “He had that creepy smile and was occasionally cackling, so I decided to get out while I still could. Your dad told me you were here when I dropped by your house, so I came to spend some time with a sane member of the Pack.”

Stiles looked at him doubtfully, “I’m a sane member of the pack?” Then carried on before Isaac could answer, “But I can fully understand the desire to get away from Peter when he is behaving at his creepiest.”

“Well I went to find Derek first.” Isaac was sheepish, but Stiles could also understand that, even with his brooding and angry personality Derek was saner than Stiles, “But he was practising being a wolf.” There was a strange expression on Isaac’s face.

Stiles made a questioning hum as they headed out of the store.

“He was chasing squirrels. I decided to leave him to it.”

“Had he caught any?” Stiles asked laughing.

“I don’t know, I left before I got a really close look. But I think he was just playing.” They smiled at each other, enjoying the knowledge that their Alpha was capable of having fun. Stiles decided to change the subject, tucking away the knowledge that their Alpha was chasing squirrels in the woods until he needed it for blackmail.

“So I still need to grab a few more t-shirts, at least two pairs of pants, some shorts and new sneakers. I was also considering grabbing a PlayStation and some games for the loft.” Stiles cocked his head in thought, “But I’m getting kind of hungry so maybe lunch first.”

Isaac nodded, “I could do with some more clothes myself,” he frowned and looked down at his own clothes, “Being a werewolf is really hard on your clothes.”

Stiles nodded laughing and clapped a hand onto Isaac’s shoulder guiding him towards the food court. “Come on then, time to eat before we shop.”


	6. Chapter Six

Over half the summer holidays has passed, but there had been no sign of Erica or Boyd. The werewolves had been patrolling the town regularly, as had Chris and his men, and Stiles had also been monitoring the police reports with his father’s permission. There had been a couple of reports of sightings made to the sheriff’s station, but after further investigation by Stiles they had been proved false, much to the disappointment of the Pack.

Stiles, who was set up on an empty desk at the Sheriff’s station, was going over the most recent report made to the sheriff’s station to see if it was a legitimate sighting. He checked the location and pulled up the security cameras in the area, and started going through the archived footage to find the time that the sighting took place. 

The report was from a woman who had spotted a blond teenager in the company of two identical teenage boys and an older black woman while driving through the warehouse district. When Stiles had read that it had sent a shiver of excitement through Stiles, it was the best lead they’d had all summer.

The warehouse district was the result of the economic downturn and the industrial businesses leaving Beacon Hills. This had left large numbers of warehouses empty and in the years since then they had been left to fall into ruin.

The woman reported that the blond teenager hadn’t seemed very happy to be with the others, and that she seemed to be looking around for someone to help her. The woman had wanted to stop, but after the black woman had noticed her, all her instincts had told her to get out of there. But she had been disturbed enough about the whole encounter to turn up at the station to make a report the next morning.

Deputy Harper had taken the woman’s report and had immediately called Stiles about it. She had recognised the woman’s description of the black woman and identical twins as members of the Alpha Pack. The Sheriff having had shared the descriptions of the Alpha Pack with her and Tara so that they could keep as eye out.

Stiles had immediately headed down to the station after being contacted and at his arrival the Deputy had set him up at an empty desk. It took him hours to search all the footage from the numerous cameras in the area, and it was nearing dark when he finally managed to find the right time and footage. He watched it and immediately sent out an urgent text to Derek, Peter, Isaac and his father.

Confirmed sighting of Erica in the warehouse district. Meeting at the loft ASAP.

He immediately received a barrage of texts from the wolves letting him know that they were on their way to the loft from the preserve where they had been training. However his father phoned him to give him some bad news.

“Hey kiddo, I’m not going to be able to make it. I’m needed on the site to supervise the investigation and I don’t know how long it will take.” His father had been called out to a fatal road accident not long after Stiles’ arrival at the station. “If you need official back up Deputy Harper will be available she’s processing evidence at the station.”

“Okay dad, I’ll let you know what the plan is…” Stiles paused, “When we’ve made one.”

“Good, remember to not rush into the situation. Gather as much information as possible and use all your resources, including Chris and his men.”

Stiles nodded in agreement even if his father couldn’t see it, “I’m going to give Chris a call in a little while. I just want to get a basic plan together before I call him in.”

“And you want to do that as a Pack?” His father’s voice had a hint of a smile in it.

“Yup.”

“Good luck kiddo. I’ll be heading straight home from here, so keep me up to date with what’s going on and let me know if you need me later.”

“Will do, love you dad.”

“Love you too kiddo.”

He quickly grabbed his keys and wallet, heading out, only stopping to let Deputy Harper know that the report was good. She nodded and told him to let her know if he needed anything.   
His drive to the loft was fairly quick as it was not far from the station. He got upstairs and into the loft and was just moving towards the map, when he heard the thumping footsteps of a werewolf coming up to the loft. 

The loft door slammed open violently, “You’ve found Erica?” Isaac asked desperately as he skidded into the loft.

“We’ve got a confirmed sighting, so we can narrow down the area that the Alpha’s have holed up in. I need you to take over watching these screens,” Stiles indicated to the three screens that were connected to the computer he had turned on. He remotely logged into the town security system using the sheriff’s department login that his father had set up for him and his fingers flew. Soon the screens were showing live footage from the camera’s around the sighting location. The computer was part of the system that Stiles had put together in the corner of the loft that he was using to compile all the information he had been gathering about werewolves and the Alpha Pack in particular. It had been paid for using the credit card belonging to Peter that Stiles had never given back after plucking it from the man’s wallet. Not that Peter cared, he had in fact increased the limit on it and regularly paid it off whenever it was needed.

Isaac nodded, sitting in the chair as soon as Stiles got out, and immediately focused on the screens. Stiles headed for the map that was stuck on the wall next to the screens and started making marks on the map, isolating the area that would need to be searched, while he waited for Derek and Peter to arrive.

They arrived moments later, “Where was Erica seen? We should head out straight away.” Derek demanded.

“Really Derek. That’s your plan? Immediately rush out and let the Alpha’s know that we have a lead on their location.”

Derek growled angrily at his uncle’s words. Peter responded to his Alpha’s anger by tilting his head and exposing his throat showing that he wasn’t making a challenge, but didn’t back down on his point.

Stiles had been ignoring the byplay between the two wolves, but now held out a hand breaking the tension, “I need the red drawing pins Peter.” 

Peter moved and fetched the requested items placing the pins individually into Stiles’ hand as he needed them, while Derek moved over to Isaac and resting a hand on his shoulder as the two of them searched the screens for any sign of Erica, Boyd or the Alphas. 

“Right I’ve narrowed down the area where we need to be searching for the Alpha’s den? Nest? What’s the proper term?” Stiles was distracted for a moment, but waved his hand dismissing his need for an answer, “Anyway, the sighting was in the northern part of the warehouse district on the other side of town, but I’ve widened the search area because I don’t trust it not to be a trap. Why would they take Erica into the open and risk her being seen?” Derek moved back to Stiles and the map.

Peter nodded in agreement, “Exactly, it does seem like it could be a trap.”

“So I think we need to come up with a basic plan that can then be changed as needed.” Stiles took a deep breath knowing that his next suggestion would not go down well. “And I think we need to bring in Mr Argent and his men.”

Derek was already shaking his head in disagreement, while Peter scowled. 

“No.” Derek’s voice was firm, but Stiles ignored that and presented his reasoning. 

“There is too much area for four of us to be able to search, especially at the speed at which the search needs to occur to lessen the risk to Erica and Boyd. The faster we move, the faster we can find them, and then the faster we can rescue them.”

“I don’t trust the Argents.”

Stiles shrugged, “I only trust them to a certain point, but I trust them for this. Chris and his men know that the Alpha Pack is far more dangerous than our pack, even with the addition of Erica and Boyd we only number six and that includes a human and three new wolves.”

“Fine we’ll call in Argent and his men after we come up with a plan.” Stiles gave Derek a bright smile and turned back to his map.

* * * 

Chris Argent arrived at Derek’s loft soon after receiving Stiles’ phone call telling him they had a confirmed sighting of Erica and enquiring if Chris might like to assist the Pack in rescuing them.

Chris came up to the loft by himself, but had left two hunters outside to keep a watch out. He knew that his presence would make Derek and his Pack uncomfortable, and that while his presence would be tolerated, the presence of unknown hunters would not be. He joined Stiles, Peter and Derek in planning the attack, noting that Isaac was keeping an eye on the security feeds for live sightings of the Alphas.

“I’ve got a sighting of the Alpha twins are at the Petrol station, five blocks from the initial sighting. No Erica or Boyd though.” Isaac called out suddenly, the four doing the planning looked over at him and the planning gained a new sense of urgency as it was confirmed that at least two members of the Alpha Pack where in the target area. Chris immediately sending some of his men out to patrol the very outskirts of the suspect area to make sure that the Alpha’s didn’t slip out before they were ready to go.

Stiles, Peter and Chris Argent the next few hours planning on how they were going to search and locate the precise location of the Alphas lair, where they were presuming Erica and Boyd were being kept. No mention was made that one or both of them could be dead by now. They finally managed to come to an agreement that Chris’s hunters would start moving into the area at daybreak, starting at the outer edges of the area then cautiously circling in, scouting the locations that had been pinpointed as possible locations. The wolves would join them at nightfall as they neared the most likely positions, unless the location was found earlier, not that any of them believed that that was likely. 

It was four o’clock in the morning by the time they had a definite plan, as well as contingency plans for the most likely things to go wrong. Isaac had gone to bed a couple of hours ago, and by this point Stiles was resting heavily on Peter blinking heavily and Peter wasn’t much better. Chris stepped away from the table and stretched, causing a number of cracks to sound from his back.

“I’ll come back tomorrow just before dark and we can go over anything that my men find in the meantime, then we’ll go over the attack plan again, before heading out.”

Stiles made a protesting noise at not starting straight away, but was drowned out by Derek who was aware that none of them were in the right condition to head out now, “That will be fine, Argent. We’ll see you then.”

He stood and ushered the hunter out, barely hesitating in shaking the man’s hand. When he turned Stiles was resting almost totally on Peter, who was staring at his nephew.

“Peter take Stiles upstairs and go to sleep,” He ordered.

Peter nodded without a word and scooped up the young man, carrying him up the stairs. Derek did a quick tidy up before stopping in front of the map and running a light finger over the area where they believed his beta’s were being held, making a silent promise to them and to himself.

He turned off the lights and set the alarm before following his uncle and Stiles up the stairs. He was slightly curious at which room Peter would have taken Stiles to, but that was answered as he entered his bedroom to find Stiles star-fished on the bed in his boxers. He hoped that Stiles had been awake enough to get undressed himself and knew he was in Derek’s bed.

“Stop staring at me Derek, it’s creepy.” Well that answered that question. Stiles lifted his head and blinked sleepily at Derek, “Peter’s getting into his pyjamas, are you getting in?”

Before Derek could reply Peter strolled into the room also wearing his boxers. “Yes nephew, are you joining us in bed?” His smarmy tone made Derek roll his eyes but he did step further into the room. Stiles lowered his head and immediately slipped into sleep, only letting out a few sleepy snuffles as Peter climbed in and repositioned him so that he could curl up against Stiles’ back. Derek pulled some clean pyjama pants out of his drawers and unashamedly slipped off his clothes pulling the pyjamas on, feeling his uncle’s gaze on him. Werewolves had different standards of modesty to most humans, as they were used to nudity as there was no point in ruining clothes when they shifted and hunted.

Derek climbed into the bed next to Stiles, settling comfortably on his back. It didn’t take long for Stiles to move closer, eventually settling so he was sprawled across Derek’s chest his legs entwining with Derek’s. Derek knew that his uncle had shifted with Stiles, because the arm that had been wrapped around Stiles was now draped across Stiles’ back and his hand was resting lightly on Derek’s side. Derek breathed in the scent of pack and soon drifted into a comfortable sleep, only surfacing from sleep once in the night when Isaac crept into the room and carefully climbed onto the bed. Mostly still asleep he had absently wrapped an arm around the now frozen young werewolf and pulled him so that Isaac was plastered against Derek’s side, slipping back into a deep sleep as Isaac relaxed from the unexpected movement.

It was late in the morning when the four of them were woken by Stiles’ phone ringing. Stiles jerked up and blearily climbed over the wolves in order to pick up the phone resting on the bedside table, cursing as he ended up sliding awkwardly onto the floor.

“Daddio, what’s up?” The wolves didn’t bother listening in to the conversation, “Nah I slept at Derek’s, the planning session didn’t end until late this morning.” Another pause. “No. There was no bad touching.” Peter snorted lightly, “Yes dad, I’ll let you know.” Derek elbowed Peter at the snort and Isaac sat up to stare at Peter accusingly, probably realising that Peter wouldn’t mind engaging in some bad touching with the other teenager. “Uhuh. Love you too.” Stiles hung up and then still lying on the floor spoke up. “Get up you creeper’s I want some food.” 

The wolves all laughed and climbed out of the bed. Isaac made a beeline for the main bathroom and jumped into the shower, while Derek shoved his uncle out of the way in order to claim his ensuite. Peter pouted, then offered a hand to Stiles and pulled him to his feet. Both of them headed downstairs to the kitchen.

“So delicious boy, no bad touching? I’m surprised you would lie to your father like that.” Peter leered at Stiles as he switched on the coffee machine.

Stiles ignored the leer as he leaned against the counter, rubbing his eyes to clear them, “Snuggling while sleeping is not bad touching, so unless you were molesting me in my sleep I wasn’t lying.”

Peter leered at Stiles and leaned in close as he reached for the coffee mugs that were in the cupboard behind Stiles, “Please precious, I much prefer molesting people who are awake and can protest.” They bantered and flirted together until Derek came down and scowled at the both of them.

“Stop that, I don’t want the Sheriff to have to shoot you Uncle Peter.”

Peter pouted exaggeratedly at his nephew, “That sounded like you are more concerned for the good Sheriff than for your loving uncle.”

Derek snorted, but didn’t reply as he accepted the full mug that Peter held out for him. Stiles in the meantime had made a break for the stairs, coffee in hand. “The shower is mine loser.” He cried as he ran up the stairs.

Peter contemplated chasing the boy, but decided against it when faced with his nephew’s eyes flashed red in warning. So he settled back and pouted silently while drinking his coffee. Derek finished his coffee and got started cooking breakfast, Isaac soon assisting him by toasting some bread. Peter escaped breakfast preparation by slipping upstairs when Isaac had arrived, to take his own shower.

By the time Stiles and Peter had finished their showers breakfast was ready. Stiles’ chattering comfortably filling the silence in the loft as the Pack ate.

* * *

Chris Argent arrived at the loft just before dark to go over the attack plan again. His men hadn’t found anything during their searches in the night, not that they had expected too. Once they had gone over the attack plan again, they only made a few minor changes, mostly happy with the plan made the night before.

“Right so my men are going to keep circling in until tonight, by which point I suspect we have narrowed down the Alpha’s location. Then at night fall we’ll move in en-mass, with my men moving in from the north, east and south, while your pack is going to move in from the west.” Everyone nodded in agreement, the man tapped the map nervously with his fingers, knowing that his next words might upset the werewolves in front of him. “I want to send James and Reynold with Stiles to guard his back.” Derek studied the man and sensing his real concern for Stiles agreed, ignoring Stiles’ protest that he could look after himself. “My men will have their ear pieces in, but you shouldn’t be able to hear them so I’ll make sure that they know to keep you informed.” Derek nodded at the questioning tone.

“Do I get one?” Stiles asked, looking intrigued at getting his hands on some hunter technology.

“No. Since you’ll be with James and Reynold you don’t need one of your own.” Stiles pouted.

Chris continued running through the plan until they were interrupted by Stiles’ phone ringing. After seeing the caller ID Stiles answered with a frown.

“Hi Scott.” 

The wolves listened to Scott’s reply. “Stiles, where are you? I went by your house but there was no one there.”

“Dad’s at work.”

“So where are you? I thought we could hang out for the night and do some gaming.” They could hear the confusion in his voice.

Stiles looked torn, this was the first time that Scott had contacted Stiles wanting to hang out all holidays. He’d been busy with up with summer school, his work at the animal clinic and hanging out with Alison, at least until she had been sent to France by her father for some training and therapy.

“I can’t today Scott, I’ve got plans. Maybe next weekend.”

“Oh, okay.” The wolves could hear Scott’s confusion, like he was surprised that Stiles could have plans that didn’t involve him and had been expecting Stiles to be waiting around for him to call.

“I’ve got to go, talk to you later?”

“Yeah of course. Bye.”

When Stiles hung up, the wolves reacted to the sorrow scent coming off him by casually touching him in comfort. Chris just gave him a solid nod and carried on detailing the plan.

They finished going over the plan and everyone headed out, the Pack taking Derek’s Cayenne. When they reached the meeting point they pulled up next to James and Reynold’s truck.

“Good. Stiles come here.” James waved Stiles over as the Pack hopped out.

Stiles trotted over to him, Peter following close behind him. The hunter reached into the back of the truck and handed Stiles a vest. “Put this in, it might not stop a determined werewolf, but it will be enough to at least slow them down.” Stiles started pulling on the vest, first pulling off the black t-shirt he was wearing over top of his wife-beater, then putting the vest on. Before he could pull the t-shirt back on Reynold came over and, ignoring the lightly growling werewolf, checked the vest, readjusting it slightly so that it sat properly. Stiles then pulled his t-shirt back on and then accepted the knives and sheaths he was handed, pulling them on with the assistance of Peter and Reynold. When they were done, Stiles had six knives strapped on him, one on each arm, one on each thigh and two hanging from the belt Reynold supplied. To hide at least some of the knives, Derek brought over a leather jacket and handed it to Stiles.

“Thanks Sourwolf, I always wanted to belong to a biker gang.” 

“Do you want to give it back?” Derek growled reaching for the jacket.

“No, you gave it to me, you can’t take it back.” Stiles shifted so that he was hiding behind Peter and clutched the jacket. Then he pulled it on, carefully avoiding the knives.

James tilted his head slightly and Stiles knew that he was listening in on his ear piece, “That’s the signal boys and girls.”

Derek growled in readiness and shifted into his beta form, eyes glowing as ominous red. Isaac and Peter followed his lead, their eyes glowing gold and blue. Stiles smiled at his shifted pack, who before disappearing into the deepening shadows, rubbed their cheeks with his scenting him.

The hunters moved up to Stiles’ side, “Ready kiddo?” James asked.

“I want my pack mates back.” Stiles growled in agreement, before heading off after his wolves, the two hunters falling in behind him.

The group moved further into the industrial district, slowly eliminating potential locations, until the hunters stilled. James filled in Stiles, knowing that the wolves would hear him telling Stiles, if they hadn’t heard the report directly. “The group on the eastern side just ran into an Alpha, one of the twins.”

Derek appeared from the shadows startling the hunters, who went for their guns but stopped when they recognised Derek. Stiles didn’t even twitch, in fact had been looking in the direction that Derek came from. Ever since the last full moon when the Pack bonds had strengthened he had a vague sense of where his wolves were at all times.

“Just the one?” Derek asked quietly.

James frowned, “Yes. I don’t like it.”

“It’s a trap.” Was Stiles’ soft agreement.

Derek nodded, and after a moment the hunters nodded. James murmuring, “Chris agrees, he wants us to keep searching, but he’s sending some of the reserves to their location as backup.”

Derek vanished again and the three humans continued moving forwards. Not long after that Stiles stilled, head turning to the left slightly, looking intently at the warehouse about a hundred meters in front of where they were. The hunters had stopped when Stile had and followed his gaze to the building. Stiles turned to them and mouthed, ‘There.’

‘Are you sure?’ James mouthed back.

Stiles rolled his eyes, then looked upward where the hunters could make out red eyes looking at them.

‘Peter going in to scout.’ Stiles mouthed at them.

The hunters nodded and quickly checked their gear, they jumped slightly when Stiles touched their elbows and nodded, a cold look on his face. ‘They’re in there. Four Alpha’s and three wolves in a cage.’

The hunters nodded, James quietly reporting the information to Chris. They knew that the wolves were going in now, and didn’t dare ask them to wait for back up. So they drew their guns and followed Stiles as he headed for the warehouse.

Everything moved very quickly after that. The werewolves burst into the warehouse with growls, immediately going for the nearest Alphas. Reynold and James taking aim at the remaining Alpha. Stiles, knowing that he had to even the odds sprinted across the warehouse to the caged wolves, who were avidly watching the attack.

“Stiles?” Erica’s voice was confused, he was almost the last person she had expected to appear. 

“Of course Cat woman. I’m the rescue party.” Stiles was ignoring the gunshots and growls behind him, focusing on getting the cage open. He had pulled a set of lock picks from his pocket and was working as fast as he could to get the wolves out of the cage.

“Who are your friends?” Boyd was stoic as usual, the only things giving away his agitation were the glowing gold eyes and claws on his fingers.

“Some of Chris Argent’s men.” Stiles answered still focused on the lock, “They’ve been helping us look for you.” Stiles ducked as Erica’s widened eyes focusing on something behind him and he spun swiping one of his knives at the large male werewolf coming at him. The werewolf jerked back as Stiles knife cut his chest through the shirt he was wearing, and upon hearing the pained growl Stiles realised that the knives the hunters had given him were coated in wolfs bane. The wolf growled angrily and made another lunge at Stiles, but it was intercepted by a blood splattered Peter, whose blue eyes were glowing with malicious delight at the violence. Stiles turned back to the cage, trusting Peter to protect his back. 

He finally managed to open the door to the cage, and jerked back just in time to miss being hit by the missiles of Erica and Boyd as they rocketed out of the cage and into the fray. The third caged werewolf’s gold eyes gleamed at Stiles and he stepped back slightly getting out of her way. 

“Try not to kill any of the friendlies.” He requested and the young woman nodded before launching herself into the fray. Stiles turned and with moments to spare scrambled out of the way of a rolling ball of angry, biting and snarling werewolves. He recognised Isaac in the ball along with another young wolf he guessed was one of the Alpha twins. He also noticed a bloody and unconscious James not far from him and scrambled to his side, dragging him behind a box and then checking his wounds, relieved to find that it was a claw swipe and not a bite.

Stiles peered over the top of the box, putting pressure on James’ wounds to stop the bleeding. Derek was fighting Deucalion, who seemed to be playing with him. Peter was engaged in a vicious dance with Kali, they had a similar attack style of darting in and out of the fight, simultaneously trying to damage their opponent while at the same time avoid damage to themselves.

Isaac and Boyd were fighting the youngest Alpha in the room and Erica and the unknown female wolf were violently attacking the largest of the Alphas, Ennis. Reynold who had taking cover on the other side of the warehouse was taking any possible shots he could at Ennis, making sure to avoid hitting any of the friendly wolves. Stiles ducked back down and inspected James’ wounds, and noticing that the bleeding had stopped, took the man’s gun and looked back at the fray.

He hesitated for a moment, then taking a deep breath he fired at Deucalion, nailing him in the left shoulder. Deucalion faltered as the wolfs bane bullet hit him and taking advantage of the momentary distraction Derek lunged forward trying to tear out his throat, but the other wolf jerked back just in time to avoid the hit. He pulled away from Derek, howling a command as he retreated. The rest of his pack quickly breaking away from their own fights and retreating after him. Barely a few seconds later Chris and his men rushed into the warehouse.

Chris lowered his gun, but kept his finger on the trigger.

“Chris have you got a medic with you? James is down.” Stiles’ voice interrupted the tension. One of the men who had followed Chris into the warehouse quickly jogged over to Stiles and took over caring for the unconscious James.

Stiles got up as soon as the man was there and headed for Erica and Boyd who had gravitated towards each other. They were standing hesitantly, looking down to avoid meeting the eyes of Derek, Isaac and Peter not knowing what they would see after they had run away. Stiles solved the dilemma by throwing himself at the two wolves and hugging them tightly, “I’m so glad we found you guys. We’ve been looking since Mr Argent told us he had let you go.” 

Erica and Boyd both hugged Stiles back tightly, Erica sobbing lightly into Stiles’ shoulder in relief. Isaac gently, insistently weaselled his way into the hug, taking Stiles’ place. It was only when Stiles stepped back he noticed Derek and Peter staring at the unknown female wolf confused.

“Cora?” Derek eventually croaked.

Stiles’ eyes widened as Derek spoke and his head jerked towards the unknown werewolf. Now that Derek had said her name, he could see the Hale family in her features, but before he could ask his phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out to check.

Deputies on route to a disturbance reported in the warehouse district. Was the text from his father.

“Right time to go everyone, the cops are on the way.” Stiles’ words sent Chris and his men into clean up mode. Reynold came over to where Stiles was standing in between the groups of werewolves.

“You’re going to need more seats.” He handed Stiles a set of keys. “For the truck, I’ll pick it up tomorrow.”

“Thanks.” Stiles smiled at him. He flicked off a text to his dad, Rescue successful, eta 15 minutes from home.

Putting on some steaks. Stiles rolled his eyes at his father’s reply.

“Right wolves, we have to head out.” Derek and Peter were both making hesitant moves towards Cora who was still hiding behind Erica and Boyd whom Isaac had released from his strangle hold. “We’re heading for my house, dad’s cooking steak.” He noticed all the wolves perk up a little. “Reynold has very nicely given me his keys, so we have enough seats.” He ushered them from the warehouse and hustled them to where they had left the cayenne and the hunter’s truck.

They could hear sirens now. “Right rescued wolves into the truck.” Stiles herded Erica, Boyd and Cora into the truck, guessing that she would prefer to be with wolves she knew for the short drive. Both Derek and Peter looked sad at this move, “It’s for a few minutes and then you can do the awkward Hale reunion thing.”

Stiles jumped into the front seat of the truck and whistled slightly, “Wow, this is one nice truck.” He commented before starting the truck and calmly pulling out onto the road. The cayenne quickly followed suit. Stiles looked in the rear-vision mirror. “So Cora?”

The dark haired girl sandwiched between Erica and Boyd nodded. “Cool. I’m Stiles.”

“You’re part of Derek’s Pack.” She stated, talking for the first time.

“Yup. I’ve been taking care of them.” She looked at him with a blank face, but Stiles was adept at reading Hale faces and smiled, “And boy do they need taking care of, you wouldn’t believe the colour Derek wanted to paint the loft.” Stiles kept chattering on in this matter and he could feel Cora gradually losing some of her tension. They were almost out of the warehouse district when red and blue lights flashed behind them and Stiles had to pull over.

The cayenne had dropped back a little bit and so didn’t have to stop. It drove past cautiously and then stopped further up the road. The wolves in the back of the car were whining quietly, nervous. But Stiles wasn’t nervous as he had recognised the car and knew they weren’t going to have any problems.

Sure enough, it was Deputy Harper. “Stiles?” She asked as Stiles finished winding down the window. 

“Deputy Harper. How are you?” Stiles greeted casually.

She shined her torch around the car, noting the tense werewolves in the back of the truck. “Did you get a new car?”

“Nope, borrowed it from a friend.”

“Did you hear anything tonight when cruising in the warehouse district?” She asked, knowing the answer because the Sheriff had informed her that the rescue was happening tonight.

“Not really. I was just cutting through because it’s faster to get home. Dad’s expecting us.”

“Well don’t let me hold you up, Stiles. Enjoy the rest of your night.” She stepped back from the car and Stiles pulled away from the curb.

“She didn’t even blink at the sight of the three of us covered in blood and she had to know you were lying.” Erica commented.

“Yeah of course she knew I was lying, but she also knew that we were planning to rescue you tonight so the sight of you three was probably a relief more than anything.”

“A deputy knew you were breaking into a building and fighting a bunch of hostile werewolves? How much has Beacon Hills changed?” Cora asked wonderingly.

It was about then that Stiles pulled up next to the sheriff’s cruiser in the driveway. And Stiles turned around with a bright smile, “Lots.”

He climbed out of the truck and waved at Derek who was pulling the cayenne in behind the truck. The three young wolves climbed out of the truck and were about to turn to Derek, when the front door of the house opened and a man in the Sheriff’s uniform stepped out.

“Your dad is the Sheriff?” Cora asked somewhat incredulously, as over the course of the night she had seen Stiles stab someone, pick a lock and then shoot another person, not exactly what one pictured as a child of the sheriff.

“Yup. Hi daddio, as you see two rescued teenagers and one extra.”

“Come inside all of you, I’ve cooked some steaks and heated up some mac and cheese.”   
Isaac bounced over and grabbed Erica and Boyd, dragging Cora as well as Erica and Boyd were still holding her, “Come on the Sheriff makes great mac and cheese.” The four teenagers entered the house, the Sheriff stepping out of the way.

“Was that Cora Hale?” He asked in confusion.

“Yup,” Stiles replied as he moved towards the cayenne and latched onto the two older wolves who were standing somewhat shell-shocked staring at the door which she had disappeared through, “Come wolves, my father is feeding you.” He dragged the willing wolves up to the door, releasing them to hug his dad and then re-latching onto them and dragging them into the kitchen. 

The Sheriff pulled the door closed, “Somehow I feel like I should have expected something like this.” Then he shook his head and followed his son and the werewolves into the kitchen.


	7. Chapter Seven

That night found the reunited Hale Pack unwinding at the Stilinski home. The sheriff had indeed cooked steak and reheated mac and cheese for everyone, which had been quickly devoured by wolves and humans alike. When everyone was feed the Sheriff fussed over everyone, checking all of them for injuries. He had found that all the werewolves had healed in the time from the fight, and to everyone’s great surprise not even a scratch or bruise on Stiles. Who had loudly protested that he had told them he could take care of himself, and pouted at everyone’s disbelief.

As soon as the Sheriff had retreated upstairs to give the Pack some time alone, Erica and Boyd had apologised to Derek and asked to be accepted back into the pack. Derek had studied them silently with glowing red eyes before accepting and ritually biting their throats, acknowledging their submission to him. Stiles and Isaac who had been standing impatiently, but silently, in Peter’s restraining grip, rushed over to them as Derek released them. All four hugged and scented each other steadying the newly formed Pack bonds. Peter had silently followed, and had briefly scented them by lightly running a hand over their heads.

Derek had turned to study his silent sister, “I’m not going to ask you to submit to me as your Alpha now, but I hope that one day you will.” His quiet words hovered in the air.

“I came back because I heard that there was a Hale Alpha in Beacon Hills again. You are the Hale Alpha and therefore you are my Alpha.” Cora spoke quietly but strongly before stepping forward and exposing her throat to her new Alpha.

Derek had smiled briefly and then accepted her submission. “Welcome back to the pack little sister.” 

Stiles was gushing over Erica and Boyd while this was going on. He was catching them up on the events that had taken place since they had been captured, making sure to keep physical contact with them. They left the Hales and Isaac downstairs as he guided them upstairs and into his room.

“I’m guessing you guys would desperately like a shower?” Both wolves nodded and Stiles went to his drawers and pulled out some clean clothes for Erica to wear, handing them to her, before handing Boyd the pile of his father’s clothes on his bed, obviously his dad had had the same thought as him. “The shower is just down the hall. You guys can share if you want, just no hanky panky.” He chided gently, having noticed the continuous touching going on between them and guessing that they wouldn’t want to be separated. When they only looked at him gratefully, he showed them the shower and bid them farewell, “When you’re done come downstairs, we’re going to set up in the living room for the night.” 

Stiles headed back to his room to search for clean clothing for Cora and blankets to haul downstairs. His father popped out of his room to give him and Isaac a hand hauling the blankets and the extra mattress downstairs before once again disappearing into his room.

When Stiles had taken Erica and Boyd upstairs Peter had moved over to the other Hales and given Cora a hug. Isaac slipped quietly from the room to give them a little privacy.

“So Cora, how did you escape the fire?” Peter asked quietly. He had to ask, both he and Derek had been certain that all but them and Laura had died in the fire.

Cora looked sadden at the mention of the fire, “I’m not exactly sure. I know mum sent me outside after I made Alec cry.” Both Derek and Peter grimaced at the mention of Derek’s youngest brother. “When I heard the howls, I ran back to the house. I remember running into a hunter, a flash of pain and then nothing for days. I ended up with a coven of witches, who found me in the forest near them and healed the wolfs bane poisoning from where I had been shot. They tried to find out what had happened, but the only news was that the entire Hale pack was dead. So once I was healed I started running and ended up in South America. I made my way back when the rumours started about a Hale Alpha in Beacon Hills again.” 

Stiles came back into the living room with Isaac following carrying an arm load of blankets, as Cora finished talking. He smiled hesitantly at her, then turned to the male Hales. “Dad, Isaac and I brought some blankets and a mattress downstairs, can you guys help me move them in here.”

“Here?” Derek asked.

“Here.” Stiles repeated.

“I think what my reticent nephew meant was why do you need blankets and mattresses in here?”

“Pack bonding.” Stiles stated, then moved over to the two men and starting poking Derek until he growled and moved to get the mattresses, glaring at Peter until he moved to assist, Isaac having already gone for another armload of blankets.

Stiles smiled at Cora, “I thought you might like a shower?” At her nod, he continued, “You’ll need to wait until Erica and Boyd are done but I brought some clothes for you to put on afterwards if you want.” She stared at him, “I mean they’re mine, but they’re clean and I thought you might not want to sleep in bloody clothes.” 

“Thank you. A shower sounds good and I’ll take the clothes.” Stiles beamed at her reply. They turned to watch Derek and Peter awkwardly manoeuvre the mattress into the room.

Stiles rolled his eyes at the sniping going on between the two wolves then moved over and started giving orders. Cora watched with interest as her brother and uncle followed the orders of the human. A human who had helped to rescue them, whose father had welcomed them into his home and feed them, and whose orders an alpha werewolf and an adult werewolves followed with only minimum protesting. She heard the shower shut off upstairs and quietly headed for the stairs, moving past Stiles whose energetically waving arms she was forced to dodge. She was only waiting for a moment before Erica and Boyd exited the bathroom together. 

Erica briefly hugged her, somehow avoiding getting the clean clothes she was now wearing dirty, and whispered into her ear, “You’re safe now.” Then they two wolves had headed off downstairs.

When she was done in the shower, feeling clean and dressed in clean clothes for the first time in weeks, she moved to join the other werewolves and the human downstairs. As she moved past the Sheriff’s bedroom she could hear his snores and wondered if the man knew how dangerous werewolves could be, and how he could sleep in a house full of predators. 

She entered the living room and took in the positions of the people already settled down in the nest Stiles had directed the wolves to make. Stiles was sort of star-fished in the middle of the mattress with Erica curled into his side her back pressing against him and her front pressed against Boyd who was curled around her and whose arm was resting on Stiles stomach. 

Stiles was resting his head on Derek’s stomach, who was lying on his back along the top of the mattress so that he could be touching his entire pack. Erica and Boyd had their heads pressing into Derek’s thigh. The other young wolf was curled up on top of Erica and Boyd, one hand resting on Derek’s knee, the other curled into Stiles’ shirt. However it was her uncle’s position that surprised her, he was wrapped around Stiles with a hand wrapped lightly around Derek’s wrist. Stiles smiled sleepily at her and wiggled around onto his side to make room for her on the mattress. Boyd lifted his arm so she could slip gratefully into the space that Stiles had created between himself and Erica, and once she was settled both he and Boyd put their arms over her so that they were all still touching. She was surprised with how comfortable she felt and soon drifted off to a contented sleep, secure in the safety of pack for the first time in years.

* * * 

The next morning the Sheriff was amused to find the pile of sleeping people in his lounge, somehow Stiles during the night had migrated to the top of the pile of people. However he was not so amused when he noticed Peter Hale’s hand resting on his son’s backside.

“Right everyone up.” His loud call made the werewolves jump, most of them flashing glowing eyes. “And Hale, if your hand isn’t off my under-aged son’s ass in a second I’m going to shoot you.” Peter Hale yanked his hand off Stiles’ ass, who flailed as the wolves shifted out from underneath him and he ended up behind a line of protectively positioned werewolves.

“What? Huh? Dad.” He whined as he clawed his way through the wolves, slithering to the floor in front of his father. “Is it breakfast time?” He stumbled up, still mostly asleep, and over to his dad giving him a hug while trying to steal the man’s coffee. 

“Get your own kiddo.” The sheriff chided shifting his mug away from the grasping hands of his coffee deprived son. Stiles whined but headed for the coffee in the kitchen.

The wolves had watched somewhat entranced by the behaviour exhibited by their human. The sheriff smiled at them and opened his mouth but was interrupted by a cry from the kitchen, “This better not be real bacon dad.” 

His face flickered with panic, “You better not touch my bacon, Stiles. I earned that bacon.” He sped off to rescue his bacon, leaving the wolves to listen to the Stilinski family bickering. 

Derek sighed and hauled himself to his feet, “Come on. I’ll protect all of you except for Peter from the two of them.” He gave his uncle a hard look, “And I suspect that the Sheriff will want a word with you uncle Peter.” He smirked at the flicker of worry that crossed his uncles face.

“Derek come and save my father from the evil bacon.” Stiles ordered from the kitchen.

“How am I supposed to do that Stiles, your father will probably try to shoot me if I take it.” Derek called back as he headed for the kitchen.

“It’s not like that will kill you.” Was Stiles unworried rejoinder.

The four younger wolves headed after their Alpha, with Peter slinking in behind them. Stiles was standing in front of a plate of bacon, spatula in hand, smacking his father’s hand whenever it ventured near the bacon. Derek was standing at the stove, facing away from the feuding Stilinski’s, manning a pan of bacon.

“Did everyone sleep well?” The sheriff asked pleasantly, still focused on the bacon Stiles was protecting. He feinted to the left, and succeeded in grabbing a piece of bacon off the plate. Then had to dance away from the flailing Stiles who was trying to retrieve the bacon.

“Well?” Ventured Erica, watching the two of them. Peter had slipped around the younger wolves and had carefully started retrieving plates and cutlery which he started setting the table with. Isaac had moved over to the oven, agilely dodged the Stilinski’s, and started pulling out the hash browns that the Sheriff had already cooked for breakfast. All three of them were ignoring the Stilinski’s who were arguing over the Sheriff’s health.

Erica, Boyd and Cora followed Peter’s gesture, taking seats at the dining table occupying one long side of the table and were soon joined by a celebrating Sheriff, who sat at the head of the table. Stiles headed for the fridge and grabbed a variety of drinks for everyone, placing them on the table for everyone to pour their own. 

Peter carefully took a seat as far away from the Sheriff as possible at the other end of the table, after placing the glasses he had grabbed on the table. The Sheriff smiled menacingly at Peter, who looked back at calmly as he could. Peter had gotten to know the man over the last few weeks and he had a good idea of just how far the man would go to protect his son. 

Erica, Boyd and Cora were watching the two men from their seats with wary looks on their faces, not sure how to behave in the situation. Stiles popped up to the table, and interrupted their watching.

“How do you guys want your eggs?”

The three wolves gave their answers and Stiles headed back to the stove after ruffling his father’s hair, which didn’t break the stare off between the two men. 

“So Cora, where have you been for the last six years?” The Sheriff asked, still not looking away from Peter, who was starting to shift slightly. 

“South America.” Cora replied cautiously. 

“Hmm. Are you aware that you are one year away from being declared dead?”

“Uh no. I thought that everyone already considered me dead.” Peter jerked away from the stare off to blink at Cora, the Sheriff smiled victoriously, then turned his attention to her as well.

“No actually you were considered missing, presumed dead, not confirmed dead.” The Sheriff replied softly. “We never found your remains in the ruins of the house, but since you didn’t make yourself known after the fire, we had to consider you missing.”

Cora nodded, the Sheriff could see she was distressed so changed the focus on the conversation to the other two teens. “Erica, Boyd, you are going to need to contact your parents today and then come into the station to make a statement about your whereabouts in the last few weeks.” The two teens nodded looking worried about the reception they would receive from their parents.

“Your parents have been worried about you. I do have to suggest that you probably don’t mention that you spent the night here,” he considered for a moment, “nor the werewolves, however make sure to mention Gerard,” he scowled at the memory at what the man had done, “as the Sheriff’s office is already looking for him in connection to his kidnapping of Stiles.” 

Erica and Boyd nodded, looking slightly surprised that Stiles had told his father about what the crazy old man had done to him. Then spent a few minutes discussing what they would say about their whereabouts after their escape from Gerard, not wanting to implicate Chris Argent’s role in their release.

It was at this point that Stiles, Isaac and Derek moved over to the table from the kitchen carrying platters of cooked food and placed them on the table. Stiles sat next to his father, Isaac sliding in the chair next to him, leaving the final chair for Derek, who frowned as he sat next to his uncle.

“How come I have to sit next to Peter?” He muttered.

“You snooze you lose,” Stiles replied with a snicker as Peter pouted.

Then there was only the sound of food being served then eaten for a long time, until Derek had cleaned his plate and turned to the Sheriff to ask a question.

“What do we need to do to get Cora officially found and then enrolled in school for the year?”

Cora opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off by a harsh glare from her brother and Alpha.  
The sheriff thought for a moment and then replied giving Derek a list of things to do to get her back into the system, adding that he should probably register that Isaac was living with him as well and that he, as the Sheriff, would be willing to act as guarantor and secondary guardian if Derek wanted.

Derek accepted gratefully, and then engaged Isaac and Cora in discussions for their plans for the rest of the day. Stiles turned to his father, “Did you hear from Aunt Natalia about what’s she going to do after she gets back into the country?”

“No, but last time I spoke to her she was acting shifty, so I’m not going to be surprised if she randomly turns up on the doorstep.”

“Excellent it’s always great when she turns up.” Stiles smiled enjoying his memory of the last time she visited.

His father glared at him, “If she does turn up I don’t want a repeat of last time.”

“It wasn’t that bad dad.” Stiles protested.

“Stiles, the two of you managed to get fifteen complaints of disturbing the peace.” The wolves who had been listening were a little worried, “In less than an hour.” His father jabbed a finger in Stiles direction, and the wolves began to hope that they were not around if the woman did visit.

“Okay, maybe it got a little out of hand.” Stiles replied sheepishly. His father opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the doorbell ringing and Stiles dashing off to answer it.

The wolves stopped their conversation and as one turned to the front door, Peter giving a slight growl.

“Who’s at the door?” The Sheriff asked, reaching for a gun that wasn’t there, alerted by the wolves behaviour.

“Scott.” Derek stated lowly, still focused on the door.

The sheriff relaxed slightly, his hand moving away from his hip, but still was slightly tense and as he wasn’t able to hear the conversation was reliant on the werewolves reactions, which weren’t looking good.

Stiles had opened the door without a thought to who it could be, which was rather dangerous considering there was a murderous Alpha pack in the territory. So it was a relief to find Scott on the other side of the door.

“Scott.” He greeted with a smile.

“Stiles.” Scott’s greeting wasn’t as happy and he had a frown on his face. “I thought you had plans?”

“I did, but that was last night.” Stiles frowned a little at Scott’s negative reaction to his presence, “Why?”

“Um, well, I was coming to talk with your dad.”

“Oh… Should I get him for you?” Stiles tried to hide the hurt in his voice.

Scott ran a hand through his hair, “Ah no, that’s alright. I can’t remember what I wanted to talk to him about.” Stiles frowned, Scott was a horrible liar.

“Did you want to do something today, we could play some PlayStation?” Stiles asked, wanting to hang out with his best mate. 

“I can’t today sorry, Dr Deaton asked me to work at the clinic today.”

Stiles’ face dropped, “Oh okay, maybe after work?”

“I’ve got homework sorry.” Scott looked awkward.

It was at that point that Cora decided to act. Stiles had been nothing but nice since rescuing her, Erica and Boyd last night, he had fed her, given her clean clothes and given her a safe place to sleep. That bit of kindness made her inclined to help him out. She stood and tied her t-shirt up under her breasts, lowered the boxers so they were barely sitting on her hips, tousled her hair and then exited the kitchen with a swing in her hips. The people in the room barely restrained their laughter.

“Stiles, honey?” She asked as she wandered into the hallway, coming into view of Scott, whose eyes bulged in shock, “Breakfast is getting cold, are you going to be long?” She hugged him, pressing her breasts to his side then wrapped herself around him with a coy look at Scott. Then she focused on Stiles, “I thought that after we had breakfast we could go back upstairs.” She looked at him seductively through her lashes. 

Stiles who had barely reacted to her surprise appearance, smiled down at her, “That sounds like a great idea, sweetheart.”

“Who’s this?” Scott asked a hostile tone entering his voice.

“Oh sorry, Scott this is Cora, Cora this is Scott.”

Cora’s drawled “Charmed,” made the eavesdropping wolves in the kitchen smother their laughter. “I’m going to finish my breakfast, honey. Join me as soon as you can.” With that Cora drifted away, a languid hand running up Stiles arm and across the back of his neck, her hips rolling as she re-entered the kitchen to face the grins of the most of the wolves, except for Peter who was frowning at her, and the Sheriff who only lifted an eyebrow in question.

The wolves could hear Scott making a hasty and abrupt farewell and leaving. Stiles wandered back into the kitchen after shutting the door, looking somewhat confused by Scott’s behaviour.

“You alright kiddo?” His dad asked carefully.

“I’m not sure? Scott was acting really weird.” He sat down, then looked at Cora, “And your behaviour just made him even weirder.”

Cora smirked, “I thought that if he saw me he would no longer be wondering what your plans were last night.”

Stiles stared at her and then started laughing, “No I’m pretty sure he thinks I was on a date, then getting laid.”

“No getting laid until you’re eighteen.” His father stated, Stiles rolling his eyes in response to the expected words.

“Yes father, I know father.” His father however was eyeing the man at the end of the table sternly.

Derek reached across the table and plonked a piece of buttered toast on Stiles’ plate. “Eat.” He ordered. Stiles absently started eating as he considered Scott and his weird behaviour. The sheriff smiled slightly at Derek’s actions, knowing that feeding a person was a way he used to show he cared.

The doorbell rang again, and this time everyone paused looking at each other to see who would be answering the door this time. The sheriff eventually rolled his eyes and stood with a sigh, “I’ll get it shall I?” He asked as he wandered away from the table.

“Hey Stiles,” he called a moment later, “If you speak of evil does it always appear?”

“Aunt Natalia,” Stiles crowed as he dashed from the room in a excited whirl of uncoordinated limbs. 

* * * 

Stiles was hugging a short, slim woman with fiery red hair. “Aunt Natalia, dad was just saying that you were likely to turn up on the doorstep at any time.”

She smiled brilliantly at Stiles, “Your father has always had good instincts, it was hell when we were teenagers.” She released Stiles to give the man they were talking about another hug. “How are you big brother?”

“I’ve been better little sister.” He had fond smile on his face as he pulled her into the house. Stiles attempted to latch onto her again. “Leave her alone Stiles.” He ordered as he fended off his son.

“But I want to hug her again.” Stiles whined, trying to get around his father. Who, still blocking Stiles, guided Natalia into the kitchen, where they were greeted by a bunch of wide-eyed werewolves.

“Good morning everyone.” She greeted calmly, tilting her head at Derek.

“You know about werewolves.” Stiles accused suddenly pointing a dramatic finger at her, as he recognised the movement as her acknowledging him as an Alpha werewolf.

“What?” His father demanded in surprise as he stumbled, “Not you too.”

Natalia laughed at her brother, as he slumped into his chair, his head thumping solidly onto the table. Cora hesitantly reached over and patted him consolingly on the shoulder.

“Yes daring, I do know about werewolves.” She patted Stiles’ shoulder. Stiles immediately started bouncing around her and bombarding her with questions. But as he was speaking so fast, his words tumbling over each other he was not understandable, even to the werewolves with their advanced hearing.

She calmly navigated around her excited nephew and slipped into his seat. “It’s nice to meet you all.”

Stiles was moving around the kitchen erratically, having grabbed a pen and paper and was frantically scribbling his thoughts down.

“And it’s nice to see you again Peter. The last news I heard of you was that you were in a coma, you’re looking remarkably recovered.” This statement caused everyone to pause for two reasons, firstly that they had actually forgotten that Peter was supposed to be in a coma, and secondly when had they met.

“How do you know Peter?” The sheriff asked lifting his head from the table where it had been resting.

“I met Mrs O’Connor when Talia and I travelled to New York for the Magical Conference in the early nineties.”

“What were you doing there Aunt Natalia?” Stiles demanded, his scribbles pausing temporarily.

“As the most powerful Spark in North America, it was sort of expected that she would be there.” Was Peter’s dry answer.

“Spark?” Asked the Sheriff.

“Deaton called me a spark.” Stiles said at the same time.

Derek couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Stiles, “And you didn’t think to mention that?”

“No why would I? I thought Deaton was being his normal cryptic and unhelpful self.” Stiles replied, and Derek could only shrug his shoulders in reluctant agreement with Stiles’ reasoning.

“Deaton?” Natalia queried delicately, “Alan Deaton?” Stiles, Peter, Derek and the Sheriff nodded. She sniffed derisively, “The druid. You’re right to doubt him, his reputation has diminished greatly in the last few years.” She did not sound impressed with him at all, the sheriff was curious as to what the man had done to get that level of reaction from his normally calm sister.

“You still haven’t explained what a spark is.” The sheriff pointed out, deciding to ask her about Deaton later. Natalia looked around and noticed that not only was her brother looking at her inquiringly, three of the younger wolves and Stiles were as well.

“Well,” she started, before pausing to watch Stiles looked around for a chair. He frowned as he realised that she had taken his chair, before poking the Alpha werewolf until he sat back so Stiles could sit on him. It was curious that an Alpha would allow that sort of behaviour from someone that was not his mate, it also surprised her that her brother wasn’t protesting his son sitting on the lap of a twenty-something man. But Stiles had always been able to get away with things, he had a special way about him. “A spark is a human that is born with a magical core.”

“Like Harry Potter?” Stiles asked excitedly, while everyone else looked slightly panicked at the thought of Stiles with that type of power at his fingertips.

“No, not like Harry Potter, honey.” They sighed in relief. “A spark doesn’t have to use a tool like a wand to utilise magic, we can manipulate magic with our will alone.” The panicked looks appeared again. “Sparks are born with magic, unlike the other magic users, who gradually build up a power reservoir through rituals and sacrifices. When a Spark uses all their magic, their personal power refills on its own, often growing bigger, in contrast to other magic users who have to start building their magic level up all over again.”

“This sounds awesome.” Stiles crowed, “But what’s the downside. You don’t get that sort of power without a balance.” He asked seriously.

Natalia smiled, Stiles really was quite intelligent. “The biggest downside is that because our wills shape our magic, we must have ironclad control. The most common way Sparks are identified is because they accidentally use magic to fulfil their desires, and because humans often want things they shouldn’t have, often that accident is something that needs to be fixed.” 

Stiles nodded with a shudder, he had wanted some things that if forced would have horrified him, Lydia to love him was just one.

Natalia could easily see that her nephew understood her point, as could everyone else. She noticed how he freely took the comfort offered to him by his Alpha and smiled internally. It was rare for a Spark in a supportive environment to have their magic behave in the way she described. She continued in a lighter tone, “However Sparks are generally the most powerful magic users and can do types of magic that are impossible for others.” Everyone looked curious, including her brother so she elaborated, “I know of Sparks who can cast solid illusions, use telekinesis, see the future, or teleport ourselves.”

“Ohhh, I want to be able to do that.” Stiles said dreamily. 

The Sheriff shuddered in dread at the thought, then froze, “Wait didn’t you just say that Deaton said you were a Spark?”

“Yessss.” Stiles hissed, his hands rising to form a pyramid in front of his face and an expression of mischief and evil crossed his face.

Derek slumped slightly, his head resting on Stiles’ back, “No using magic on the Pack please.” He almost begged.

Stiles patted him absently on the head in reassurance as he started to cackle.

Peter cleared his throat, and ignoring the cackling boy and the pouting Alpha, delicately asked, “Just how powerful could Stiles be?”

“Oh god,” groaned the Sheriff, “Please tell me he can’t destroy the world?” He looked horrified, Stiles only cackled louder and the young wolves were looking progressively more worried.

“Please,” sniffed Natalia, “Stiles wouldn’t need to use magic to destroy the world.” Strangely enough this statement actually settled the worries of everyone. And Stiles’ cackles came to a sudden halt.

“Will I be able to set things on fire with my mind?” He demanded. Peter looked slightly worried, and Stiles reached over to pat him on the hand, “Don’t worry, Peter. I won’t set you on fire again.” Everyone sort of looked at each other in confusion at the ‘again’, with only Isaac, Derek and the Sheriff knowing that his statement referred to Peter’s most recent death, not the Hale house fire.

Natalia shrugged, “Maybe? We would have to do some tests, and even then we would only know how your powers are most likely to express themselves.”

“Excellent.” Stiles leapt to his feet, Derek steadying him as he wobbled in his enthusiasm, “Let’s go and do some testing.” He started around the table to grab his aunt, and drag her off.

“Maybe you should wait until your aunt is settled in the guest room.” The Sheriff interjected. Stiles nodded and changed direction, heading for the door to get his aunt’s bags. “And maybe put on some clothing.”

“Oh right, good idea dad.” Stiles left the room determinedly, and the others looked at each other with a little worry. Then burst into laughter as they heard a thump and a cry of ow from the hallway as Stiles crashed into something. None of them could imagine the young man that had just left the room hurting anyone in the room, however someone who was a threat to his family or Pack would be fair game.


	8. Chapter Eight

After putting his aunt’s bags into the spare room and having a shower and getting dressed, Stiles found that he and Natalia were the only ones left in the house. The Sheriff had gone into the station, Derek had taken Isaac and Cora and gone to the loft, Erica and Boyd had gone home to their parents and Peter had disappeared while no one was looking. 

Stiles was sitting cross legged facing his aunt, with a notebook open in front of him to fill with notes as she explained about Sparks and their abilities. 

“Sparks have a variety of talents they can have, in fact if they only have one gift they are generally labelled as a psychic.”

“Oh, that’s what they are.” Stiles murmured, the information allowing him to label the Harper family.

Natalia smiled at his murmur, “They must trust you a lot, to even allow you enough information to be able to figure that out. Families that produce psychics are secretive, they are often targeted for those abilities by a number of different groups for a number of reasons. Most of them dangerous.”

“I’ve known them for most of my life.” Stiles shrugged.

“And if I asked you who?”

Stiles blinked innocently at her, “Who?”

Natalia laughed at the innocent face and carried on talking, “So sparks can wield a variety of gifts at differing strengths that come from what is commonly called the Five Families. Each Family is a group of talents that are related by their base element.” Stiles nodded in understanding, it made sense so far.

“The Earth Family includes abilities that relate to the earth, plants and animals. Earth Sparks are the ones that have the best gardens, or have strong connections to animals. They are often craftsmen, jewellers, potters, weavers and the like because they find it easy to work with the produce of the earth. Guardians are considered to be part of the Earth Family as well.”

“Right.” Stiles shifted so he was lying on his stomach, so that it was easier for him to take notes. “What is a Guardian? You make it sound like something special.”

“A Guardian is someone who is the caretaker of a sacred site, they protect it and keep it healthy. They also have the ability to wield the power that that site had gained.”

“How do you become a Guardian?” Stiles asked curiously, tapping his pen.

“Sacrifice and by being chosen by the land.”

“How can a piece of land chose?”

“Magic is life. So when a site has a lot of magic, it is alive in some way. Sacred sites have huge amounts of magic built up and therefore are aware.” 

Stiles tilted his head thinking, “So a place like Stonehenge is alive?” He asked.

Natalia smiled proud of his deduction, “It is not alive like a human, but more like an animal.”

“So sentient, but not sapient?”

“Yes. The next family is the Air Family. Sparks who in this family can manipulate air directly and use it to move things with their mind.”

“Telekinesis?” Stiles asked excitedly.

“Of a sort, they can also use air to heal and create illusions. Air Spark’s often have the ability to channel magic through their voice or music. Historically I think a lot of the travelling and court bards were Air Sparks as they were generally revered and celebrated for their abilities. The Fire family can create and wield fire. In history they often ended up as blacksmiths as one of the most common talents in the Family is the ability to control and change the temperature.” Natalia laughed. “Now they make very good firefighters.” 

“I can see why.” Stiles laughed as well.

“Magical talents to do with passion and desire also come under the Fire Family. Geisha’s in Japan were often Fire or Air Sparks.” Stiles was amused by the historical examples she was adding in, she was making it very obvious that she was a college History Professor.

“The Water Family talents cover water manipulation, emotions and healing. They all tend to be empathic in varying degrees, able to sense the emotions of those around them, and the stronger talents can often manipulate those emotions.”

“Dad has that doesn’t he?” Stiles asked after a moment’s consideration, “He’s always been able to read people.”

“Yes, your father does have a minor empathic talent.” She had a wry expression on her face, “It makes him a very good police officer, he knows exactly when to push and when to back off.” She looked at him slyly, “It also enables him to sense when all but the best of liars are telling him porkies.”

Stiles blanched, “Crap.”

She laughed again, “You’ve got it too. You’ve always tried to make people happy when they’re sad, you know when to poke and when to leave a person alone.” Stiles nodded, he’d noticed that ability very clearly since he started spending time with the Hales, who were balls of emotional pain. “It’s a gift that everyone in our bloodline has had for as long as I could discover.”

“The final family of talents is the Spirit Family. Spirit Sparks have talents that are to do with death, clairvoyance and the gods. The most commonly Spirit talent is strong instincts, that little voice in the back of your mind that tells you to get out of a dangerous situation, or that it’s a bad idea. The clairvoyance talents tend to be minor and related to the very near future, as the future is constantly in motion as people make decisions. It takes a very special type of Spark to be able to see in the far future, their brains work differently to see, comprehend and form a clear vision of the future. The Delphic Oracle is the most well-known and celebrated, the saddest case is that of Cassandra who could see, but wasn’t believed.” Natalia sighed. Talking about the Spirit Family was always difficult. “This is probably the most difficult of the Families to master.”

Stiles nodded, “You mean emotionally, don’t you?”

“Yes. I’m glad you can see that. The ability to see the future is the most desired, but the hardest to cope with. What happens if you see the death of your child? Do you try to save them when that decision might condemn another child? True clairvoyants often end up as hermits or in institutes.” Her eyes were old and sad, but Stiles knew better than to ask the reason.

“You mentioned the gods?” Stiles probed carefully.

“Yes I did.” She began to smile. “People who become priests tend to be Spirit Sparks, one of the strongest currently is the Catholic Pope.”

“So God is real?”

She nodded, “He is just one of many. Most of the ‘old gods’ are real.” 

Stiles looked a little worried, “If the old stories are true that might not be good.”

“Like all stories they change over time and retellings.” She shrugged, “Certainly they have an element of truth, but what element is true? My advice is to try not to piss any of them off.”

“Helpful, aunt Natalia.” Stiles rolled his eyes at her advice, “How do I know if I am doing that?”

“Hopefully you’ll never have to find out. Most humans go their entire life without meeting any of the gods.”

Stiles groaned in despair, “I’m cursed, since you said that I will definitely end up meeting at least one of them.”

She smirked at him, “Good luck nephew.”

“So what Family do your talents lie in?” Stiles asked mischievously.

She grinned at Stiles with matching mischief in her eyes, then abruptly disappeared. Stiles was left gaping at the space she had been sitting, then jumping into the air as his aunt touched his shoulder. He ended up sprawled on the floor having let out a yelp of fright. “So those are the Five Families. Sparks can have a number of talents spanning multiple Families, but their strongest talents tend to lie in one Family.”

Stiles regained his sitting position, glaring at his aunt. “Evil. You said that Sparks are born with their magic, where is it keep, do I have, like, an extra organ somewhere?” He looked down and poked his stomach, only stopping as his aunt let out a peel of delighted laughter.

“No extra organs Stiles. Our magic is just part of us, it’s in every cell of our bodies, in our breath, in our voice, and in our souls. It just is.”

“What happens if you use all that magic up?” Stiles looked serious.

“You die.” Natalia was blunt. “As I said magic is life, life is magic. But it is incredibly difficult, almost impossible, for that to happen. It would have to be a conscious decision as your survival instincts would kick in to save your life. When you use your magic you recharge with food and sleep. If you use too much at once you can fall into a coma and not wake without assistance.”  
Stiles’ eyes flickered as he absorbed that piece of information, “Hang on, that’s not where the sleeping beauty story comes from is it?”

“Yes.”

“That is so cool, what about the other fairy tales?”

Natalia was delighted at his leap, but changed the subject to distract him, “Do you want to know what Families your strongest talents are from?”

“I know you’re changing the subject, but I want to know what gifts I have too much to care.” He narrowed his eyes at her in warning, “I’ll find out later. What do we do to test for talents?”

“First we’re going to get into a comfortable position, then you are going to listen to my voice and I’m going to send you into a trance. When you’re in the trance, I’ll guide you into finding your magic and your talents. You won’t be aware of anything while in the trance but when you come out of it you’ll know what gifts you have and how strong they are.”

Stiles settled into a comfortable cross-legged position and listened to his aunt’s voice. Her voice caught his attention immediately and it wasn’t long until he fell into a deep trance. When he surfaced it felt like no time at all had passed, but the clock told him it had been over two hours.

“Stiles? Are you there honey.” His aunt asked.

“So hungry.” Stiles muttered, clutching his stomach. He got up and made a beeline for the fridge.

His aunt watched with a gentle smile, as he stuffed a piece of ham into his mouth and started making a large sandwich from the things he had pulled from the fridge.

“Why am I so hungry?” Stiles spoke as he stuffed more ham into his mouth. 

“You mind just did a lot of work.” Natalia answered soothingly, “Do you know what your strongest talents are?”

“Ice manipulation.”

“Did you get a sense of your limits?” She asked curiously.

“One day I’ll be able to plunge the country into winter at the height of summer. I can create a blizzard with the smallest thoughts and shape ice into any form I want.” Stiles was worried as he looked at her, concerned that he might indeed be able to destroy the earth with his talents.

“You’ll be fine Stiles.” She reassured him. “You are surrounded by people who want to and will help you. They’ll protect you from outside forces and from yourself.” 

Both their heads jerked to look towards the front door as they heard it open. Then watched in astonishment as the side table sitting next to the door rocketed upwards and into the ceiling, denting it.

“Well, I guess you’re telekinetic as well.” Natalia stated calmly as Stiles’ father poked his head through the door.

* * *

After Stiles’ father had stomped out of the room, taking the broken end table with him, muttering about how he knew he shouldn’t have left them alone, Natalia and Stiles managed to calm their laughter.

“So are Sparks born into specific families or do they pop up randomly? When did the first Sparks appear? How did we get the ability to use magic?” He asked, reading from his notes. As she had been explaining about Sparks and magic he had been writing down his questions as he had thought of them.

“Some bloodlines do regularly produce Sparks, but they also appear at random.” She shrugged, “So we don’t really know.” 

Stiles stared at her knowingly, “But you have a pretty good theory.” He stated.

Natalia smiled, “Sit nephew, and hear the beginnings of our Family.”

* * * 

A long time ago there was a man and his wife, they lived on the edge of a large forest and lived a contented life. For although they were lacking in gold and jewels, they always had food to eat and clothes to wear. The man was a skilled hunter and his wife a talented weaver. The one thing they lacked, but that would have made their lives truly happy were children to love. For although they had been married for many years, a child had never been conceived. But they loved each other deeply and tried not to let the lack of children make their lives unhappy.

However the hunter could see that his wife’s sorrow grew as summer after summer passed. So one day after kissing his wife farewell he travelled for many days to the deepest, darkest part of the forest. There he made an offering of blood to the dark god of the forest and prayed for a child for his wife. For three days and nights he prayed until the moon rose full and high in the sky and the god stepped from the tree. 

Faithful hunter I have heard your prayers and will grant your desire, however as with all gifts there is a price to pay. Your wife will have twins, a boy and a girl. They will be talented and beautiful and beloved by all who see them. However in their sixteenth summer I will visit and you shall give me one of the children to take away. You will have to make a choice, your beloved daughter or your adored son. The hunter shuddered at the god’s promise but accepted, for he could not bear his wife’s sorrow anymore.

The hunter returned home and soon his wife grew swollen with child. It was as the god had promised, the man’s wife bore him twins, a beautiful blond haired girl and a darling dark haired boy. As the children grew their beauty increased, and their talents bloomed exactly as the god had foretold. The man and his wife loved their children dearly, as did those who saw them. When the children reached their fifteenth summer the hunter’s sorrow grew, for his children were all that the god had promised, they were beautiful in both body and mind, talented in many skills, and he feared the choice he would soon have to make. The hunter’s wife noticed his sorrow and wondered why he sorrowed for they had food, clothing and two beautiful children, a daughter to secure their future and a son to carry on their name, but the man would not answer. 

As the hunter’s sorrow grew, his wife pressed and in the winter before their beloved children’s sixteenth summer the hunter revealed to his wife the dark god’s promise. She was sorrowed by his answer, for she knew that the dark god would not be swayed and her husband would have to choose which of their children would be taken. His children had also noticed their father’s sorrow and tried to make their beloved father happy, his daughter made beautiful crafts to decorate their home and his son brought home powerful animals to feed him, but nothing they could do made their father happy.

Winter lifted, spring bloomed and the children became adults. Men came to court the hunter’s daughter and the village girls came to flirt with the son, but none could hold the attention of the twins, for they only loved each other and their parents. Then the day the hunter dreaded came and the dark god approached the house of the hunter and his wife. Hunter, as I promised you have had sixteen summers with your children, now it is time for you to make your decision. The twins hugged each other and stared at the god in confusion. The children asked their father what the god was speaking of and the hunter told them of their sorrow and desire for children, of his journey into the deepest, darkest part of the forest, and of the dark gods promise. They listened in silence to their father and watched the tears fall from their parent’s eyes. 

Then as one they turned to the god, Oh great god, we ask for a boon. The god considered them and granted them leave to ask, The love we bear for our parents is too great to make our father chose. We ask for a year and a day to make the choice, then the chosen one will go freely and without resentment. The god agreed and left. 

The twins knew that they must leave their beloved father and mother to gain the wisdom needed for the choice. So they packed their bags into the family cart and headed off into the wider world. 

Summer passed, Autumn came and went and Winter settled in without word. When the first flowers of spring bloomed, it was with great joy that the hunter and his wife greeted the return of their children.

Their children would not speak of their travels, but both were content. Their beloved daughter presented their mother with a beautiful tapestry, woven with gold and jewels and their adored son presented their father with a strong bow, made of an unknown wood. The happy family did not speak of the choice, for they dreaded the arrival of the dark god. 

A year and a day has passed, children. It is now time to make the choice. Which of you will be accompanying me to my home? The daughter turned to her parents and smiled peacefully, her parents mourned for the loss of their daughter for they knew it was she who would accompany the dark god to his home. Her twin pressed a small carving into her hand as they embraced and she stood in front of the dark god, strong and fearless. I shall accompany you to your home, great god. In a swirl of wind the dark god was gone with the hunter’s daughter.

The hunter and his wife were saddened by the loss of their daughter, but took comfort in their adored son. The Summers passed and their son aged, but to their sorrow he did not take a wife and spent his time in the woods.

Ten years after their daughter had gone with the god, their beloved son disappeared. The hunter searched the woods for a full year and a day. Upon the rise of the sun on the next day their son appeared from the forest. In his arms he carried a babe, a small carving clutched in her hand. The hunter and his wife delighted at the return of their beloved son asked no questions and helped him to raise the babe. 

The babe grew into a beautiful girl, with hair like sunshine and eyes as dark as the forest. Flowers bloomed in her wake and animals followed her in love. In her sixteenth summer the hunter and his wife looked at her and knew. A beautiful daughter, the picture of her mother.

* * *

Natalia stopped talking with a deep breath out, and took in the entranced faces of her nephew and the werewolves who had slid silently into the room while the tale was being told.

“You think that Sparks are descended from the gods.” Peter murmured quietly.

Natalia nodded, “Yes, the council has been collecting stories for generations, and so far the families that regularly produce Sparks all have a similar story, an ancestor who bore a child with a god, demon or other powerful creature.”

Stiles nodded agreeing with his aunt theory, after all he had heard similar stories before. 

His mother’s voice murmured in his memory, first telling him a tale of siblings, of forbidden love and of a child borne of magic. But his mother’s stories did not end so happily, it ended in blood, death and the collapse of a golden kingdom. She had also told him a more recent tale of a dark god who fell in love with a beautiful young girl, who had a talent for calling winter to her.

Maybe he got his talents from both sides of his family, after all the strongest of his gifts related far more to his mother’s blood and death filled stories than the story his aunt had just shared. The ability to raise the dead had to come from somewhere, didn’t it?


	9. Chapter Nine

Stiles and his aunt were taking a walk in the reserve. Stiles had been getting twitchy due to having sitting still for too long. Stiles was continuing to ask his aunt about Sparks and their place in the wider world.

“Sparks are one of the few free agents in the magical world, most other have commitments, while we only have the responsibilities that we choose to have. Wolves are committed to their packs, dedicates to their gods, witches to their covens, and fae to their courts.”

“Earlier you mentioned Guardians of sacred sites, that sounds that is a responsibility.”

“True, they are the only type of Sparks that have defined responsibilities, but they choose to accept those.” 

“Are there many Guardians?” Stiles asked, barely catching himself from falling as he tripped on a branch.

“Thousands, many thousands.” Natalia answered, “However the types of sites, and the level of care required, vary greatly. As do the level of power they hold. Some sites are hugely powerful because a group of people lived there for generations and the site holds the collective memories and emotions of that tribe, others are powerful because they sit at the intersection of leylines, or are sites of religious worship, those sites tend to have a generally positive feel to them.” She looked pensive, “But there are sites that are powerful for negative reasons, battle sites that bathed the ground in blood, sites that massacres took place.”

“So does that mean the Hale House could be a sacred site?” Stiles asked solemnly. 

His aunt hummed in thought, “I don’t know, certainly it is the site of violent death. But there are other factors as well, like other sacred sites nearby. In the case of the Hale House, I suspect it is not because of its proximity to another scared site.”

“Really, where?” Stiles was curious, he had spent most of his life playing and exploring in the preserve but he didn’t think he had come across a special place.

His aunt laughed, “Not all sacred sites are obvious or powerful, Stiles.” Stiles pouted at his thoughts being so easy read. “Some are no more than a tree or a lake, or even just a clearing in a forest.”

Stiles nodded, “That makes sense I guess. I suppose that if it is a natural gathering of power then you wouldn’t exactly want to mark it with a human structure.” He tilted his head in confusion, “But Stonehenge?”

“Sometimes the Guardian of a site may want to use the power for their own uses and having a human marking or structure is beneficial. Delphi is a good example of this, it’s Guardian for hundreds of years was a series of female priestesses, who in order to protect themselves and their site chose to make their site as powerful in human terms as possible.”

“I thought that the priestess seers didn’t have any power and that the prophecies were made up by the priests.” Stiles protested.

“How safe do you think the guardians would have been as women in a man’s world?” Natalia asked dryly.

“I suppose you’re right aunt Natalia.” They wandered for a while in silence as Stiles mulled over her words. “You said there is a sacred site nearby?”

“Yes. It’s called the Nemeton and the Hale’s have served as it’s protectors for generations.”

“I thought you said that Guardians were Sparks, the Hales are werewolves aren’t they?”

Natalia was quiet, “The Hale’s aren’t always born werewolves and they didn’t always chose a mate who is a werewolf. There was speculation that in each generation one of the wolves would take the Guardian of the Nemeton as their mate. But we don’t know for certain, the Hale’s have always been secretive and they haven’t kept records that we know of.” Stiles did not correct her assumption, knowing that the existence of the Hale Family archives was knowledge for the Pack and the Pack alone.

“Do you know where it is?” Stiles asked, “The Nemeton I mean.”

“Only vaguely, I can sense that it is nearby, but not the direction that it is in, or how far away it is.” Natalia stopped and looked at Stiles in curiosity, “I’m hoping that you will be able to sense it if we get close.”

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to be sensing.” Stiles protested.

“It’s a tingle of power, like a spark on your tongue.” Stiles shrugged not feeling anything like that. He could feel his pack mates, but nothing like what Natalia was describing.

“Well, let me know when you do.”

“Ha, I knew there was a purpose to this field trip. I said to myself that there was no way my city-loving aunt wanted to spend the day tramping through the preserve, not without an ulterior motive.” He danced in victory, “And I was right.”

Natalia laughed sheepishly, “I knew that you would probably know something was going on. But I can feel something wrong with the land, my skin has been crawling since I came back to Beacon Hills.” Her eyes hardened. “I want to see the Nemeton and make sure it is alright, since that is a likely cause.” She looked at Stiles in consideration, “Can’t you feel the unbalance that is effecting the area?” 

Stiles was silent as they continued walking, “Maybe. Beacon Hills has certainly gotten more dangerous in the last few years, dad has been dealing with more crime of a serious nature than he ever has before.”

Natalia nodded from where she was walking next to Stiles, who even if he was not aware was guiding their path somewhere.

Suddenly they stepped into a sun filled clearing, both stilling at the sight of a large stump in the centre of the clearing. Stiles had been here before, on the night of the full moon. Natalia stopped just into the clearing, feeling a sense of trespassing and watched as Stiles headed straight for the stump. “Oh.” He breathed, as in the sunlight he could see the cellar doors.   
Stiles could hear noise coming from the direction of his aunt, but ignored it as he focused of the large stump that he now knew was the Nemeton. He brushed a hand across the top of the stump, and felt a tug deep inside him, at the heart of his magic. He gasped in surprise as his newly discovered talent surged briefly and a ghostly figure appeared in front of him.

“Paige.” She was beautiful and Stiles could see how Derek had loved her, her inherent goodness and strength of character were obvious. Strangely he could also feel a ghostly pack bond with her, and speculated that it was due to the mating bond between Derek and her, which when he looked closely appeared to be sleeping and not severed. Stiles wondered if it could be woken, but also knew that it was the time for that. She sat calmly on the top of the Nemeton, “You’re the Guardian of the Nemeton.” Stiles stated with certainty.

Paige tilted her and smiled brilliantly at his deduction, “I am.”

“Sacrifice and acceptance.” He concluded quietly.

“Yes.” Her voice was soft but strong, and Stiles could feel the depth of power hidden within her slight frame.

“You’re Pack.”

At his statement, Paige looked uncertain for the first time. Now a young girl unsure of her place, not the powerful Guardian.

Stiles grinned at her reassuringly, “I can feel you. You are Pack.” His statement was firm, solid with instinct and absolute confidence.

A glorious smile grew on her face as she studied him, “I am Pack.” At her confirmation, Stiles gasped as her Pack Bond suddenly pulsed with power and the Pack bond between them solidified. He could suddenly feel alarm surging through the bonds he had with his other Pack mates and focused to end back a pulse of reassurance and calm, hopefully soothing the agitated wolves. He studied the bonds and realised that her bond was only connected strongly to him and that she hadn’t formed bonds with other members of the pack, except for the pre-existing bond with Derek and it was unchanged.

“Have you been alone all this time?” He asked sadly.

She smiled at his concern, “I am not alone, I have the Nemeton, I have the forest, I have the creatures of the forest. And now I have you.”

“Yes you do.” He stepped forward so that his shins rested against the Nemeton, and held out a hand, ignoring the now terrified shouting of his aunt. He knew Paige would not hurt him. Paige smiled and accepted his hand, he felt his power surge again as they touched.

Natalia abruptly stopped shouting as she took in the figure that was appearing on the Nemeton holding her nephew’s hand. She tried to draw on her power in order to protect her nephew, but gasped as the power of the Nemeton crashed into her, stopping her flat. She froze helpless in the face of such power, fear growing in her heart as the figure grew more and more solid. She was terrified for her nephew’s safety.

She did note that Stiles was completely unconcerned and was in fact was smiling at the solidifying figure. “Stiles?” She called once again from where she was stuck at the edge of the clearing, and her nephew and the figure both looked at her. The power that had stopped her from entering the clearing abruptly dissipated and she slowly moving forward, cautiously approaching the two. “Are you alright?”

Stiles frowned at her in confusion, “I’m fine. Why?”

“She was worried that I was going to hurt you.” The figure spoke and Natalia’s eyes widened as she realised that it was a young girl, and that she was the Guardian of the Nemeton.

Stiles still looked confused, “You wouldn’t hurt me.”

Paige smiled at him, “You’re right I wouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t hurt you.”

He rolled his eyes, “I said wouldn’t, not couldn’t. I am well aware that if you wanted to you could probably squish me like a bug.” 

Natalia sighed in exasperation, “Stiles, sometimes I don’t understand you.”

He shrugged, “That’s alright you don’t need to understand me, I am the only one that needs to be able to do that. You only need to trust me.”

“I am Natalia O’Connor, Spark, and Stiles’ aunt.” Natalia turned to the young girl.

“I am the Guardian of the Nemeton.” Paige spoke, inclining her head slightly in greeting.

“And I am Stiles, King of Awesome.” Both females looked at him blankly. “What I thought we were assigning ourselves titles. I think I would make an excellent King of Awesome.” Natalia rolled her eyes, while Paige smiled in affection. Stiles smiled back identically at her, it felt as if he had always known Paige, that she was his sister.

Natalia looked back at Paige, “I have a somewhat invasive question for the Guardian.” Paige nodded for her to go ahead. “What is wrong with the Nemeton? The land feels unbalanced and poisoned.”

Paige’s face grew sad, “It is. Years before I became the Guardian someone attacked the Nemeton, trying to disperse the collected power. They chopped the tree down and spread poison in the roots. It was vulnerable because it had recently lost its Guardian.”

Stiles gently interrupted, “Does it know what happened to the Guardian?”

Paige shook her head, “Only that their connection was severed abruptly and painfully. The Nemeton was still reeling from the loss when it was attacked, and it was only when I died at its roots that it started to recover.” She looked over her shoulder at the stump, “I have spent the last years healing and stabilising the Nemeton,” She gently smiled at Stiles, “You’re the first person to be able to see me.” Stiles squeezed the hand that he had not released since she had accepted his offer in reassurance and comfort.

“It is possible that we could help you.” Natalia offered softly. 

Paige looked at her in gratitude, “Thank you. I’ve done all I can do by myself, especially since I have had no training at all.”

Natalia’s eyes widened, “How did you become Guardian?”

Paige looked at her, “I died on the roots of the Nemeton in the arms of my beloved.” It was clear to Natalia that she wouldn’t get anymore explanation from the girl, and that Stiles knew who she had been in life.

Natalia inclined her head in acceptance of the unspoken request to not enquire further. “I will need to do some tests and then some reading to find the most suitable ritual to help heal the Nemeton.”

Paige nodded, and then stepped to the side drawing Stiles with her. Natalia stepped forward with a deep breath and cast her magic over the site to find exactly what damage had been done, and where the healing needed to be focused. As she did this she noticed the two teens conversing seriously, but couldn’t hear what they were saying.

* * *

Natalia knew that something traumatic had happened to her nephew, he was a jumpier than he normally was and she noticed that if they went out as a group, the two elder Hales and the curly haired young wolf stuck close by him. Eventually she had cornered her brother and demanded that he tell her what had happened, she knew that he must know, as he would never tolerate Stiles being hurt without investigation.

The whole horrible story had come pouring out of her brother without much prodding and she knew that something had to be done about Gerard Argent. For although no one said she could tell that none of them believed he was truly dead, and she knew from the stories that the magical community told about the Senior Argent that he was a slippery character and that it was likely they were correct. In fact it had often been said that until the man’s head had been separated from his shoulders that no one would believe he was truly dead.

So one day she slipped away from her brother’s home, easily losing the young wolf who was trailing her and went hunting. She headed for the warehouse where the confrontation between the wolves and Argent Snr had taken place. It had not been hard to locate, he brother was keeping a copy of the police file in his desk that detailed the man’s previous behaviours and sightings. 

She was surprised at how undamaged the building looked as she approached, well at least until she moved around the corner and noticed the rather large hole in the side of the building. She was pretty sure that was where Stiles had driven his jeep through in order to deliver Lydia to the kanima. She stepped through the hole, not breaking any of the police tape across it, and noticed that if you knew what to look for the damage from the fight was easily identified. She moved through the space, and found the place where Derek had been forced to his knees by Stiles’ supposed best friend and called upon her talent.

The air shimmered and slowly figures came into view, Derek his head tilted back hatred in his eyes, Scott holding him in place and Gerard Argent stepping closer to the two wolves. She watched in silence as Gerard gloated, his words silent but the malice obvious. Then as Derek was forced by Scott to bite the old man. How Scott had carelessly dropped Derek, uncaring of the older werewolf and focused on the older man. Gerard seemed to glow in triumph, only to stop as a line of black goo slowly oozed from his nose. She considered the young Scott, he had grown ruthless since his bite and not in a way she could approve of. Before he would never have considered murder as a solution to a problem, let alone condemned an enemy to the slow horrible death that was going to take Gerard. She was fairly certain that she knew who had given him the idea and it only added to her dislike of the druid. 

Gerard ranted and raved at the betrayal of Scott, even as he dropped to his knees. He yelled something and she knew it was his final order to the kanima. Who was only stopped from carrying it out by her nephew ramming him with the jeep. 

However much she wished to watch her nephew help save the day, she knew that this was not the time and that she had a far more important task.

She focused on Gerard and watched as he slowly dragged himself away from the fight and into the shadows, as he disappeared from her sight she relaxed and let her clairvoyant magic fade away, the figures dispersing like dust.

She relaxed for a few minutes to get her breath back, using her magic like that was always stressful on her body as it was not one of her natural talents but one she had worked for years to develop. Once she felt recovered she headed off in search of her prey’s path, a small black spot drew her attention as she exited in the direction Gerard had headed, she crouched and after a moment’s study recognised it as the goo that was the result of Gerard’s body rejecting the bite. She followed the trail to its end in an alley not far from the warehouse and knew that Gerard must have escaped by car from there.

She considered what to do from here, the trail was weeks old and had since been covered by weeks of traffic movement and foot traffic. Therefore it was unlikely that she would be able to track the vehicles movements, using either magic or more conventional means. She couldn’t scry for him because she had never met the man in person, although she could probably get her hands on something that belongs to him. And to be able to scry successfully you either had to have a person connection, or you needed to have something that was important to them. She had neither, so that was out.

She stood in silence contemplating her options, but only one came to mind. It would be dangerous, very dangerous and it might not even work. She took a deep breath and decided that for her the risk was worth it. She carefully looked around her and decided it would be better to return to the relative shelter of the warehouse, to avoid having anyone accidentally witness what she was about to do. She got back to the warehouse and using a piece of chalk from her pocket drew out a complex circle on the floor. She stepped carefully into the circle, so as to not disturb the chalk, knelt gracefully on the floor and began to pray. She prayed for justice, for vengeance and for a hunter. Her prayers drifted to a natural halt and why she looked up it was to find that she was no longer alone in the warehouse. A man stood in front of her, two large hounds sitting at his feet, a bow held confidently in one hand and a horn hanging off his belt. 

“My lord, I am grateful that you have answered my prayer for assistance.” Natalia spoke softly, still on her knees.

“Ask your boon, mortal and I will consider.” His voice was deep and she call could feel it in her bones.

“My lord, I ask that you hunt for a wrongdoer. Gerard Argent, elder of the Argent Hunting Clan, for he has done injury to the son of my brother. He captured him and tortured him for information that the child did not know.” She dared to meet the man’s eyes. “I cannot carry out vengeance myself, for I do not have the ability to hunt him down.”

He was silent for a time, “What is the name of the child?”

“Maelgwyn Stilinski, son of Johannes and Claudia Stilinski.” She looked away as she continued, “Named for his mother’s father.” She missed the man’s eyes flashing in anger as she spoke. When she looked back at him, his eyes had gone back to the serene amber that they were generally.

“Mortal I will hunt this man for you, and in return I will ask your assistance in the future and you will comply.”

Natalia nodded, “I willing take on this debt in return for my vengeance.”

“Do you wish to make the kill?” He queried.

“No my lord, anything I would do could not match the hunger of your hounds.” She replied humble.

“Close your eyes mortal, it would not do for you to join the hunt before you have repaid your debt.” His voice rumbled and she shuddered at the mention of joining the hunt. She remained kneeling and clenched her eyes shut, he blew the horn and her nose began to bleed at the power that filled the warehouse. She heard the baying of hounds and the stomping of horses all around her and clenched her fists and shuddered in fear. She heard movement as someone bent down and her face was raised with a gentle hand, “Mortal, when your vengeance has been fulfilled you will hear the horn sounds thrice.”

“Thank you my lord.” She whispered. The horn sounded again and she felt the hunt move out to hunt down its quarry.

After she was well and truly sure that the hunt had gone, she cautiously opened her eyes one at a time and released a terrified breath of relief. There had been a very true and large chance that the Lord of the Hunt would not grant her boon and in retribution for her daring to waste his time she could have become the focus of the hunt. The only reason she had even thought to dare was that the Lord of the Hunt was known for his hatred of those who would harm a child.   
She got shakily to her feet and staggered to the nearest wall, bracing herself with a hand, breathing unsteadily.

“That was very risky.” She shrieked as the voice came from behind and as she spun around almost ended up as a heap on the floor, but was caught inches from the ground and looked up into Peter Hale’s glowing blue eyes. “You are lucky he did not take you.”

“I know.” She pulled herself up to her feet again, Peter gently steadying her with a hand. 

He stepped back, “Why would you risk an eternity of servitude to the wild hunt?”

“Because Stiles is my nephew and I love him.” Her reply was simple. “Would you not do anything for the children in your family.”

Peter’s eyes were cold as they studied her, “All bar three of my family died in flames, and one of them has since died at my hands.” He replied, voice steady and empty of feeling. “Come, let’s get back to the house. Stiles sent me out to fetch you.”

He moved towards the hole in the warehouse wall leaving her to follow him.

“Do you always do what Stiles tells you to?” She queried, a hint of sarcastic mocking entering her tone.

Peter paused briefly with his back to her, “When someone you have tried to kill allows you to see them at their most vulnerable, it breaks something inside you. In that moment Stiles saved me from truly becoming a monster, so yes I always do what Stiles tells me to do.”

Later that night while the Pack, Natalia and the Sheriff were sprawled out all over the living room in front of the television watching a movie, Natalia froze the sound of a horn echoing thrice in her head, then slumped even more deeply into the chairs she was curled up in, a slight smile on her face. Stiles was curled up his top half leaning against Derek, and his legs across his father’s lap, with Peter leaning against the couch from his position on the floor. Peter looked up at her movement and taking in her smile, relaxed further in his position sitting on the floor, his head coming to rest on Stiles’ hip, where Stiles’ hand soon rested absently running his fingers through the man’s hair.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has been reading my work. I have been delighted by the response. And just to let everyone know I have finished writing this work, I just have to do the final editing before I post.

It was two weeks before school was due to start and Stiles was lying on the floor in his room. He was contemplating trying to stand after falling out of his bed, of course he had already been lying on the floor for an hour and had yet to move, but he knew that at some point he would have to get up, if only to go to the toilet. 

Twenty minutes passed and Stiles still hadn’t moved. So when he heard the doorbell ring he groaned, now he had to get up in order to answer the door. If it had been a member of the pack they would have just come in so it had to be someone else.

Stiles rolled over and crawled to his door, eventually hauling himself to his feet using the doorframe. He staggered down the stairs and to the door, pausing when he caught a glimpse of himself in the hallway mirror. He grimaced, his pyjamas were crumpled and his hair was sticking up in all directions, and considered dashing back upstairs but then dismissed the thought, not really caring about his appearance. When he swung open the door he was surprised by the people on his doorstep.

“Lydia? And Danny and Jackson?” He recovered from his surprise and asked curiously, “What can I do for the three of you on this bright and sunny Sunday morning.”

Lydia pushed passed him, “It’s 2 in the afternoon,” Stiles shrugged, “On Monday.”

Stiles paused, Jackson and Danny passing him to follow Lydia, he counted the days in his head, wondering what had happened to Sunday, then shrugged internally in indifference. He wandered into the living room and settled on a chair facing the couch that Lydia had commandeered, Jackson sitting gingerly on her left and Danny comfortably on her right.

“So how can I help you at 2pm on a Monday then?” Stiles queried.

“We wish to speak to your Alpha.” Lydia was cool and composed. Stiles on the other hand flailed in surprise, just catching himself from sliding off the couch.

“That’s not what I expected you to say.”

“What did you expect Stilinski?” Jackson asked suspiciously.

“Why for Lydia to arrive and tell me that she wanted to run away with me.” Was Stiles’ quick reply.

“Why would we come with her if that was the case?” Jackson sneered, barely flinching from Lydia’s elbow stabbing into his side.

“Because although the two of you had broken up because you had begun a steamy love affair with the delicious Danny here, you still care about Lydia and came to support her in her quest.” Stiles’ mouth dropped as both Danny and Jackson began to blush. “Okay,” Stiles held up a hand, “I don’t want to know.” Stiles shook his head then went back to Lydia’s request. “Why do you wish to speak to my Alpha?”

“We wish to negotiate acceptance into the Hale Pack. We believe that we would be safest as part of a larger pack.”

“Why the Hale Pack?” Stiles asked studying Lydia, because he knew that she was the alpha of their little pack.

“We know you.” Lydia started and ignored Jackson’s interruption.

“Even if we think you’re a dork.”

“We trust you. We know that you wouldn’t ever put up with anything that was against your morals.” 

Stiles studied her, a serious look on his face, “You would have to submit to Derek.” She nodded in acceptance. Stiles looked at Jackson and Danny who also nodded in acceptance, then added what he thought might the sticking point. “And Peter.” 

Lydia grimaced in distaste, “Really? How can you trust him?”

Stiles looked at her, “I trust Peter Hale more than I trust lizard boy here.” He replied tilting his head at Jackson, “Peter can see and understand the consequences of his actions and makes his decisions knowing what the result will be. Jackson, on the other hand, is impulsive and for the first time in his life he is facing the consequences of his decisions and I don’t trust that he will remember to consider the repercussions next time he has to make a hard decision, both how it will affect his own life but also the lives of the rest of the pack.”

Lydia nodded, but Stiles was now focused on Jackson, “Will you be able to cope with the rest of the Pack thinking the same way.”

Jackson was serious, “As long as I am given the chance to prove myself and eventually gain that trust.” Stiles smiled brightly at him.

“And you Danny? Will you be happy to join the Pack or are you doing this because for the two of them and not for yourself?”

Jackson opened his mouth to object to this, but was stopped by the gentle squeeze of Danny’s hand on his forearm.

“Yes Stiles, I’m doing this for myself. I want to be part of Derek’s Pack. Even if it’s just so I get another look at ‘Miguel’s’ abs.” His smile was wicked.

“What do you think Derek? Are their reasons good enough for the Pack?” Stiles called, enjoying the looks of shock on their faces.

“I’ll take the one who likes my abs, but I’m not sure about Jackson and Lydia.” Danny had flushed first white and then as Derek spoke, red crawling up his face until he was blushing fiercely. 

Jackson was glaring at Derek and Stiles guessed that it was because of the way Danny was reacting to Derek. Derek was casually leaning against the door frame, arms crossed across his chest, having come into the house through the kitchen as Stiles had been asking their reasons for wanting to join the pack. 

Lydia was quietly seething in anger, “Why not me or Jackson?” Her voice was chilly.

“Jackson didn’t hear me enter the kitchen, not a good sign of him have accepted the wolf.”

Jackson looked up, “I heard you enter,” He spoke quietly, “and I knew it was you because I recognised your scent.” 

Derek nodded, then gestured, “Come here little wolf.” His words were low and Stiles could hear the wolf riding just under the surface. Jackson stood and moved towards Derek, his actions were submissive and his head was tilted to protect his throat, the correct posture for a lower ranking wolf approaching a higher ranking but not aggressive wolf. Derek straightened and stepped forward to meet him, his Alpha power suddenly much more obvious. Stiles looked at Lydia and Danny and noticed they were tense and holding hands in support of each other and knew that they could sense the power, which was a good sign.

As Jackson halted barely a foot from Derek, Derek began rumbling deeply from his chest. Jackson swayed towards him, but then forced himself to stand tall. Derek’s eyes glowed red and he leaned closer to Jackson still rumbling, Jackson quivered and then abruptly but smoothly tilted his head back and exposed his throat. Derek rumbled happily, then leaned in and bit Jackson’s throat deeply enough to just draw blood.

“Welcome to the Hale Pack pup.” Derek spoke gently to Jackson as he leaned back, licking the blood from his lips. Jackson smiled dreamily and stepped into Derek, pressing against him and rumbling happily as Derek wrapped an arm over his shoulders.

“Why does he look so out of it?” Danny questioned Stiles quietly.

However it was Derek who answered, “His wolf is happy because its Alpha has formally accepted him into the Pack.” Derek still holding Jackson looked at Danny, “Do you want the bite?”

Danny shook his head, “Not at the moment. I’m happy being human, however I might change my mind in a few years.”

Derek nodded, “If you change your mind let me know.” Derek looked at Lydia for the first time, “I’ve heard about Danny’s reasons for joining the Pack, but I’ve yet to hear yours Lydia.”

Lydia’s chin rose, “I can bring a lot to the Pack. I am intelligent and can help the Pack survive, if not thrive.”

“I already have intelligence. I have an IQ of 150, Stiles has an IQ of 170 and Peter has an IQ of 185. Why do you want to join the Pack?”

Her eyes widened and she looked at Stiles in surprise, who shrugged he didn’t really care about his IQ, he had taken the test because his dad wanted him to. “I can provide a safe place for the Pack to meet.”

Derek raised an eyebrow and then pointedly looked around the Stilinski’s living room.

Stiles could see that Lydia was beginning to struggle, Jackson could see it too and whined trying to reach her. He was stopped by Derek’s solid hold on him. “Lydia,” Stiles spoke gently, “Everything you’ve said is about what you can bring to the Pack. That’s not what the Alpha asked. Why do you want to join the Pack?”

“I want to belong. I want a family.” Her voiced quivered and tears began to fill her eyes.

“Then Lydia Martin, welcome to the Hale Pack.” She released a sob and Derek let Jackson go to his distressed mate. Jackson immediately engulfed her in a hug, petting her comfortingly. Derek approached, touching her face lightly to tilt her head up and then bent down to gently bite her throat, then repeated his actions with Danny. As he stepped away from the little pile of Danny, Lydia and Jackson, Stiles moved to wrap himself around his Alpha.

“Do you really have and IQ of 150?” He asked teasingly, “I would never have guessed that with all the growling and slamming people against hard things.”

Derek looked down at Stiles’ bright amber eyes and growled threateningly. Stiles poked him once in the side and then slipped out of his grip and dashed into the kitchen, giggling wildly as his Alpha gave chase.

Jackson looked up from comforting Lydia and knew he had made the correct decision in suggesting to Danny and Lydia that they join the Hale Pack, as he watched his Alpha playfully chasing a wildly giggling Stiles.

* * * 

Stiles was standing in his command corner in the loft, the map of Beacon Hills had been recently swapped to one of continental America. For once it was just him, Peter and Derek at the loft for the night. His dad was pulling the night shift as the Sheriff’s station, his aunt had taken Lydia, Cora and Erica out of town for a girl’s day, which had included a night at a spa. Cora had gone reluctantly, a look of torture on her face, while Erica and Lydia had looked delighted. Boyd and Isaac were going to a movie and then to Boyd’s grandmother’s house where they were planning on spending the night playing games together. Danny and Jackson were at Jackson’s house and from the expressions on the other’s wolves faces, Stiles didn’t want to think about what they were doing.

So the two Hale men and Stiles were at the loft doing some planning. Well Stiles was planning, Derek was cooking and Peter was lounging on the couch reading a novel. Stiles was marking known Pack locations on the map, as well putting pins in at locations that had confirmed Alpha Pack activities in the last six years, and it was not painting a pretty picture. Since the formation of the Alpha Pack in the months after the Hale fire, they had wiped out over 15 Packs all over the States, and had serious confrontations with another five, where the defending Pack had survived, but suffered severe damage. 

To Stiles the most worrying of the locations was in California. It had taken place barely a year ago and the Alpha Pack had decimated one of the north eastern Packs that had been over 60 wolves strong. 

Stiles had found out the details of the attack earlier in the day. Kieran Dallas, the Alpha of the neighbouring Pack had contacted Stiles with the information, as rumour had reached him that Stiles was trying to gather information about the Alpha Pack in order to try to defend his pack. Dallas had told Stiles that as soon as he was sure the Alpha Pack had left, he had led his Pack into the territory to see if he could provide aid to any survivors. However they had only found two, a five year old werewolf and his baby sister.

The boy had told them that their human mother had hidden them, while their father had left to try and hold the Alpha’s off. The boy didn’t know what had happened after that, but as a woman and a man’s bodies had been found barely a mile away, the rescuing pack had known that these two young children were the only survivors of the massacre of the rest of their pack. Dallas wanted revenge for the children that his pack had taken in, and he wished he could send help, but unfortunately as the Alpha he couldn’t endanger his pack by acting. 

Stiles understood and respected the man’s position and had made sure to express his gratitude for the information that Dallas had provided. Stiles also offered to send the information he gathered to the Alpha just in case the Hale Pack failed. The Alpha had been grateful for Stiles’ offer and had told him that if the Hale Pack managed to see off the Alpha Pack that Stiles’ Alpha should give him a call and they could discuss an alliance.

When Stiles had told Derek and Peter the results of his conversation, both wolves had gaped at him in shock. Stiles had been confused because the Alpha had seemed like a nice enough man. Peter had told him that Kieran Dallas was well known to be one of the most insular of the Alpha’s in the United States, and that he had never heard of another Pack being given the chance at gaining an alliance after so little negotiations. Stiles had been surprised, but knew that his wolves were telling the truth. So when he had emailed Alpha Dallas the information he had gathered so far, he had made sure to tell the man that his Alpha would be delighted to talk after they had dealt with the Alpha Pack.

Stiles was standing in front of the map, chewing on his lip as he thought. For the last couple of weeks stories like Alpha Dallas’ had been trickling in from the various contacts the pack member’s had. As he had examined the information that he had collected Stiles was worried. Over the years the Alpha Pack had travelled the entirety of continental America and left a death count that was high enough that Stiles wished he hadn’t been able to figure out. 

The only positive outcome of his information gathering was the evidence that the Alpha Pack had a pattern. They made their presence felt by the Pack holding the territory, made minor attacks on members of the Pack and then after a month or so they target the member of the Pack they considered the weakest and kill them. They were slightly out of pattern, with their holding of Erica, Boyd and Cora, but both Stiles and Peter thought that it had been more of a crime of opportunity rather than a deliberate action. So if they followed pattern in the next week or so they would make their attack.

Derek had finished cooking dinner in the time Stiles had been contemplating his map, and now summoned Stiles and Peter to the table.

“Ohhh,” Stiles’ eyes lit up as he got to the table, “You made sweet and sour pork. I love you.” Derek grinned boyishly at him, while Peter rolled his eyes. 

Peter slid into a chair opposite the one Stiles had taken. “But I’m still your favourite aren’t I, my precious little spark.” He asked with a pout.

“Have you made me any food today?” Stiles asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I brought you an iced chocolate earlier.” Peter leered at him.

“No, you made yourself one and had some left over.” Stiles corrected primly, causing Derek to laugh.

“I’m glad I’m your favourite Stiles.” He teasingly poked his tongue out at his uncle.

Stiles laughed at Peter’s continued pouting, he loved it when these two men felt comfortable enough to relax and be playful around him. It reassured him that people can recover from devastating events, even if they do leave scars. Stiles took a mouthful of his food and moaned in delight.

“This is delicious Derek.” He shovelled down another mouthful, and then glanced up at Derek who was sitting next to his uncle and realised that both wolves were looking at him. “What?” He questioned after swallowing his mouthful. Derek was flushed across his cheeks, “Are you blushing because I complimented your cooking?” Stiles asked confused. When Derek only smiled at him amused by the question, Stiles turned to Peter to see if he would explain Derek’s strange behaviour. But Peter just stared at him hungrily, “Eat some food if you’re hungry Peter.” He ordered and looked back at his food.

Derek gave a strangled laugh, amused by Stiles’ obliviousness. “I don’t think that he’s hungry for the food Stiles.”

Stiles stared at Derek uncomprehendingly, then blushed wildly as he finally figured out why Peter was acting the way he was. “Are you saying he has a kink for watching people eat?” He asked.

“No, Stiles.” Peter spoke up, “It’s the noises you make when eating.” Stiles’ brows lowered in confusion. “You sound like you’re having sex.” Peter’s voice was husky with desire. Stiles continued to blush deeply while looking at Peter, then a thought occurred to him.

“Wait, Derek?” He asked his voice higher than usual.

“Hmm?” Derek mumbled around the mouthful of food had had just taken.

“You want to fuck me?” Stiles squeaked in shock.

Derek choked and Peter burst into laughter. “God I love your bluntness Stiles.” He gasped out between laughter.

Stiles and Derek both glared at him. “I won’t deny that you’re attractive Stiles,” Stiles smiled at Derek shyly, not used to being told that he was desirable. He had known that Peter wanted him, the man wasn’t exactly subtle in his intentions, but he had thought that Peter’s desire was more to do with Stiles’ ability to match him intellectually, not his physical attractiveness. “However I would never touch you while you were under-aged.”

Stiles wasn’t surprised to hear Derek say that, what with the whole Kate thing. He shrugged and then opened his eyes widely and exaggeratedly fluttered his eyelashes at Derek, “Does that mean I should watch out on my 18th birthday?” He asked.

Peter was growling sub-vocally, he had never been good at sharing, so seeing Stiles flirting with his nephew was irritating him. Stiles looked away from the wolves, scooping up a forkful of food in order to break the intensity of the conversation. Derek took advantage of his distraction to flash red eyes warningly at his uncle. Peter’s irritated reaction to Stiles flirting with him had been clear and knew that he was going to have to have a word with his uncle about his behaviour before he alienated Stiles. 

Peter tilted his head, acknowledging his Alpha’s reprimand, knowing that his control was shaky and he needed to improve it. However he was also very aware that Derek was probably the only one who could challenge Peter in gaining Stiles affections, and that made him touchy. Intellectually he knew that Derek would never challenge him for Stiles, if only because he would never want to put Stiles in second place and if Derek did fall in love again he would never love someone as much as he had loved Paige and therefore they would forever be second to Paige.

“I would never be so crass as to come after you on your birthday,” Derek’s voice was husky and he was focused on Stiles, whose eyes were widening with every word dripping from Derek’s mouth. “I’d wait a few days, so I could corner you, pin you down and ravish you with no one wondering where you were for at least a day.”

Stiles’ fork was hanging limply in his hand and both wolves could smell his arousal as he stared at Derek in shock, he made a small noise then his eyes focused intensely on Derek. “Would you fuck me so hard, I’d be limping for days? Would you mark my body so that everyone would know that you’d fucked me raw? Would you make me scream?” Stiles voice was low and both Derek and Peter swallowed down growls as their arousal rocket upwards. Peter’s dick was as hard as granite and he subconsciously moved a hand to press against it. Derek was panting softly as he stared at the boy, this was not the reaction he had expected to get from Stiles. “Would use me again and again, taking your pleasure in my body? Would you hurt me? Make me beg you to stop?” Stiles continued, bright eyes staring at Derek. 

When those bright amber eyes shifted to Peter, his limited self-control snapped and he leapt across the table. Peter’s body slammed into Stiles taking him to the floor, even as he made sure that Stiles wouldn’t be hurt by twisting mid-leap to make sure that his body cushioned their landing. 

As soon as they hit the ground he surged up taking Stiles’ mouth in a violent kiss. Stiles moaned into his mouth, his hands moving up to grasp and tug on Peter’s hair. Peter’s hands were gripping Stiles hips, and Peter knew that he was leaving bruises but couldn’t loosen his desperately tight grip. He rocked his hips up into Stiles’ body and made a pleased growl as Stiles pressed back. 

Peter shifted Stiles so that their groins lined up, and rocked up again, this time pressing groin toe groin. Stiles gasped into his mouth then broke his kiss as he arched his body into Peter again, easily following the guidance of Peter’s hands. A stream of nonsensical moans and words were falling like rain from Stiles mouth to Peter’s delight. He lifted his upper body so that he could latch onto Stiles’ exposed throat, biting down hard enough to leave a mark for people to see, but not to break the skin. For as much as he would like to taste Stiles’ blood it was too early for that. Even as he pressed bites and harsh kisses to Stiles’ throat, Peter never stopped guiding Stiles’ hips to grind against his own. 

“Fuck.” Stiles voice was broken and stunned and Peter broke off mouthing bites against Stiles throat to see what had caught his attention. When he tilted his head back, it was to see Derek watching them slumped in his chair, red eyes glowing and a hand massaging the lump that was his hard cock. 

“Let me see your cock.” Stiles begged, grinding down brutally into Peter as Peter surged against him. Peter couldn’t restrain a desperate growl at the action and his hands shifted to grasp Stiles ass, using his strength to encourage the rough, aroused movements. Both he and Stiles watched with glazed eyes as Derek acquiesced to Stiles’ pleading, mews falling unconsciously from Stiles’ mouth as Derek undid his jeans and slowly pulled his cock from his pants.

Both Peter and Stiles moaned at the sight of Derek’s hard cock, and Derek stroked himself a few times spreading precome down his cock, “What should I do now Stiles?” His voice was dripping with arousal. But when Stiles could do no more than moan in arousal, his hand stopped and both Peter and Stiles whined in protest. Derek watched them both with red eyes and waited for Stiles to answer his question, demonstrating his dominance over them both. 

Finally Stiles managed to brokenly gasp out, “Touch yourself.”

Derek looked at him and gripped his cock, and then waited for Stiles to give him more direction. Peter his arousal having settled to a more manageable, but still intense level, decide to further distract Stiles. He slowly shifted his hands so that he could slide them into the back of Stiles’ jeans touching skin, Stiles moaned at the feel of Peter’s hands touching his skin and ground down against Peter, his focus shifting from Derek to Peter. His wide, glazed eyes met Peter’s glowing blue eyes and Peter surged up to taste him again, the kiss still violent but more controlled. 

Stiles surrendered to the kiss without any fight and Peter growled in pleasure at the submission, he released Stiles mouth and smirked at the way he tried to follow Peter’s mouth. Peter kissed him again, and gently caressed Stiles’ skin. His fingers inching closer to his goal, soon his fingers were dipping gently between Stiles’ ass cheeks and Stiles reared up moaning, using the movement to press encouragingly against Peter’s caressing fingers. 

When he reared up, Peter latched back onto his throat and Stiles’ gaze once again fell on the Alpha watching them, an unmoving hand wrapped around his angrily red cock. “Stroke your cock, Alpha.” Stiles moaned watching Derek with hot eyes, Peter released Stiles’ throat to watch as Derek began to move his hand. Peter knew that hearing Stiles call him Alpha had deeply affected Derek, the scent of his arousal had spiked. But Stiles wouldn’t be able to tell from the slow, controlled movement of his hand.

Peter watched absently with hot eyes as Derek stroked himself according to Stiles instruction, but was more focused on the young man writhing in his grip. He sped up his rhythm, rocking harder and faster against Stiles, and his fingers started to directly press against Stiles asshole. Stiles keened and shuddered against Peter as Peter’s finger slipped into his body for the first time, his body convulsing as his orgasm violently rolled through his body. Peter rolled the still convulsing boy over on to his back and rutted against him hard, burying his head into Stiles throat and biting down as he own orgasm burst through him.

Stiles was lax in pleasurable exhaustion, but managed to tilt his head back to meet Derek’s eyes and make one final plea. “Come for me, Alpha.” Peter lifted his head and watched as his nephew’s hand tightened and stroked faster until his body arched in his chair and he came with a low growl, cum pulsing from his cock.

The three of them slowly recovered, and Derek was the first to speak, “That was not how I thought dinner would go.” His voice was wry as he slowly stood, carefully tucking himself away.  
Both Stiles and Peter snorted and they carefully untangled themselves and got to their feet with a helping hand from Derek. 

“Time to change our pants I think,” Stiles commented and Peter laughed as Stiles moved quickly, but carefully headed for the stairs, the wet patch on the front of his jeans obvious. Peter quickly followed as he grimaced at the feel of his own pants.

A few minutes later all three were sitting at the table again, trying to eat the food that they’d managed to salvage and reheated. Stiles eventually gave up and moved his plate and thumped his head onto the table and started laughing. “I can’t believe you leapt across the table at me.” 

“It was fairly impressive.” Derek sniggered at his uncle.

“What I can say, I was motivated.” Peter said nonchalantly, but soon he too was laughing.

They all gave up on eating and cleared the table and moved to one of the couches and Stiles curled up between the two men, “What happened to not touching before I was eighteen, oh Alpha mine?” Stiles asked with heavy sarcasm.

“I didn’t touch you, I believe that was all Peter.” Derek smirked, then his smile faded.

“Let me guess, it won’t happen again.” Stiles said with gentle understanding.

Peter stroked Stiles’ arm affectionately, “At least until you’re over 18.” He nuzzled Stiles neck, lightly running his mouth over one of the marks he had left, “I’m quite happy to take advantage of your willingness though.”

Derek rolled his eyes at Stiles who had looked heavenward, and reached over to pry his uncle off Stiles, “Not until he’s 18 you’re not.”

Peter pouted but both Stiles and Derek knew that Peter would obey Derek’s words, not only because Derek had told him to, but because Stiles didn’t want to risk his father having to arrest anyone for statutory rape.

“Fine.” Peter sat back and crossed his arms.

They sat there comfortable in each other’s space until Stiles asked seemingly at random, “Who would you consider the weakest in the pack?”

“Lydia.” Peter replied instantly.

“Why her?” Stiles asked curious at the instant answer.

“She’s physically the weakest of the pack.” Stiles levelled a flat look at him, “Fine. She may be intelligent but out of everyone in the pack she would be the easiest to break. She doesn’t have a strong support network, she doesn’t trust and she’s desperate to be accepted. Even with her distrust of me I could break her in, maybe, a week, if not less.” Peter was bluntly honest, and both Derek and Stiles knew what he said was fact.

“I think I could probably do it in an hour or less,” Stiles commented absently. Both wolves shifted a little in surprise. “She trusts me, I could lie to her and even if she didn’t fully believe me, she trusts enough for a seed of doubt to be planted. Also if I raped her she would shatter.” 

Derek looked at Stiles, an eyebrow raised, “I’m kind of concerned that you have even considered the matter.”

Stiles shrugged, “She’s Jackson’s and Danny’s weak point. If they ever betrayed the pack I would target her.” Peter nodded in agreement. Derek accepted Stiles’ reasoning and marked it off in his mental column about how well matched his uncle and Stiles were. “What about you Derek? Who do you think is the weakest point in the pack?”

“I agree with Peter, Lydia’s the weak link,” Peter smirked at his agreement, but lost the smirk as Derek continued, “However from an outside perspective…”

“It’s me.” Stiles softly finished his sentence.

“Yes. You aren’t surrounded by pack all the time, you are often alone or with one other human, and to an outside observer you don’t have any special abilities.” 

Stiles nodded at each point. “I agree, to an outsider I am the weakest link.” Peter made a protesting growl, “However I know that isn’t true, and I would be very difficult to break, if only because I know you guys would be racing to rescue me, and that not to mention how stubborn I am and finally my magic.”

Peter and Derek huddled closer to him, both upset by the thought that Stiles could be taken.  
“Why are you even asking?” Peter asked, his voice muffled due to his face being pressed into Stiles collarbone.

“If the Alpha’s run true to their pattern in the next week they will try to grab the weakest link in the Pack.” Both wolves growled angrily. “Come on cuddler wolves, I’m tired. I want to have a shower and then go to bed.” He wiggled his way out of the possessive hold the werewolves had on him. “And there will be no molesting of the underage boy in his sleep Peter.” He called back as he headed up the stairs, heading for the shower.

Both wolves stood, but Derek placed a light hand on Peter to hold him back in order to speak with him, “Peter. We need to talk.” Peter nodded reluctantly and turned so that he and Derek were face to face. They stayed silent until they heard the shower turn on and Stiles climb in with a shriek of ‘cold’. “I not going to try to take Stiles from you, but you need to be aware that he is young and one day he may want someone else.” Peter nodded at the soft words and he looked away, unable to meet his Alpha’s gaze.

“I know and that would be the hardest moment in my life, including the fire, but I would let him go if that was what he truly wanted.” Peter’s blue eyes were vulnerable when he did look at Derek and Derek could see how much that thought distressed his uncle, that one day he might have to watch Stiles walk away.

“I don’t think you need to worry.” Derek pulled his uncle closer so that he could rest his forehead against his uncle’s and continued in a low voice, “I think he’s already made his choice, and that is you.” 

Peter choked back a sob, “I don’t want to lose him.”

“You won’t, he holds tightly onto those that he calls his own. And even if I’m wrong and he doesn’t accept your courtship you’ll still be a part of his life.” Peter clutched him tightly, and Derek rubbed his back comfortingly as Peter cried silently into his shoulder. He noticed Stiles peeking down at the two of them, looking worried, and he gave a small reassuring smile before he nodded for Stiles to head for bed. Stiles moved away silently at the unspoken order, glancing back with worried eyes. Peter soon regained his composure, and Derek released him from the hug only to wrap an arm over his shoulder. “Come on uncle, you need to have a shower before you get into bed with me. I won’t be able to sleep if you smell like cum.” He teased.

He smirked at his uncle’s retort, “Like you smell any better.” 

“But it’s my bed, and I like it when Pack smells like me.” Derek smirked, dodging his uncle’s lunge, and jumped up the stairs ahead of his uncle. “First one to have a shower and gets to position Stiles however they like.” He added too lowly for Stiles to be able to hear, and laughed quietly as he heard his uncle speed up and race for the other shower.

* * * 

“So why don’t you and Derek trust Peter.” Cora’s voice broke the silence in the Stilinski living room. She and Stiles were the only people in the house and Stiles was lying on the couch reading a book on runic rituals while Cora was on her stomach on the floor doing a crossword puzzle. Cora had been waiting until she and Stiles were alone to ask her question, it had been surprisingly difficult as either Peter or Derek were constantly at his side, or following closely behind.

“We do trust Peter.” Stiles replied carefully.

“You aren’t lying, but that’s not the whole story is it?” Cora’s brown eyes were steady on Stiles. 

Stiles had been waiting for her to ask, all the Hales were intelligent and she was definitely a Hale. But he had been hoping she would ask Derek. Stiles swung around on the couch so his feet were on the floor and placed his book down next to him. His rested his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands and looked at her with serious amber eyes.

“How much did you know about how Laura died?”

“I know that Peter was involved.” Cora replied moving to sit with her legs crossed, knowing that this would be a difficult discussion, and looked up to meet Stiles’ serious amber eyes.

“Peter tore her throat out, chopped her body in half and then left her in the woods for Derek to find.” Stiles’ voice was unemotional, knowing it would was best to be direct, rather than dancing around the subject.

Cora gasped in horror and tears began to stream down her face. “How could he do that?” She sounded like a little girl and Stiles remembered that they were the same age and at age ten she had watched her family burn to death and had been on the run ever since. She had probably never taken the time to grieve for her family, and her memory of Peter would be of the man he was before the fire. 

“He never explained to me, nor does he have to, but I know he and Derek talked about his reason.” Cora’s face was heartbroken, and Stiles reached down, and gently encouraged her to join him on the couch. “But if I had to guess…” She made a soft noise of encouragement, knowing from her observations in the time she had been back in Beacon Hills that his guess would probably be right. “What would you do if you had to watch your family burn to death in front of you and there was nothing you could do to help them?”

“I already know. I wanted to hunt those responsible and kill them.” Cora’s voice was harsh.

“But you didn’t.” Stiles gently reminded her, “And neither did Laura or Derek, the three of you ran.” Cora looked away in shame.

“But Peter didn’t have that option, he was trapped in a living coma reliving the fire and hearing the screams of his family dying every day and every night for over 6 years. And because he was alone he healed excruciatingly slowly, feeling every cell slowly heal itself one by one.”

Cora sobbed silently into Stiles’ shoulder, as Stiles kept talking, “So as he slowly and painfully healed, surrounded by the screams of his family, he did the only thing he could. He plotted his revenge.”

Stiles finally stopped and Cora sobbed out, “I shouldn’t have left, I should have stayed.” 

“Cora, you were 10 years old. I actually think you did the best thing you could have done, you protected yourself in the most dangerous situation you had ever been in. What could you have done if you had come back, Peter was in a coma, Laura had taken Derek and the two of them disappeared, who would have looked after you?”

“But Peter wouldn’t have been alone.”

Stiles tucked her head into his throat, and soothingly ran a hand through her hair. “You would have been put in a foster home, and Peter would still have been alone. You did the right thing in running.” Cora soon stopped sobbing violently, quieting to shaking silently against Stiles.  
“So when Peter started to become more aware, he no longer had the stabilising influence of an Alpha, and his focus was on taking revenge for the deaths of his family. Once he was the Alpha, his focus was on killing everyone that had been involved in the deaths of his family and he didn’t let anyone stand in his way.” Stiles concluded quietly, hoping that she wouldn’t notice that he hadn’t told her why Laura was in Beacon Hills in the first place. Stiles knew that Peter had known exactly who Laura had been when he had killed her, after all he had lured her to Beacon Hills with the photo of the deer. But Stiles didn’t blame him, because as his Alpha, Laura should never have abandoned him.

“So you don’t trust him?” Cora asked quietly, her voice husky from the stress of crying.

“I do trust Peter. I trust that he will do anything he can to make sure that history doesn’t repeat. I trust that he will keep the Pack safe. What I don’t trust is that the actions he takes are ones that I could live with.” He hugged her, “But you don’t need to think about that, Derek and I are watching him. You just love him, he’s your uncle and he loves you.” Stiles gently placed a kiss on the top of her head.

“Why do you and Derek have to be the ones to watch him?” Cora asked twisting slightly to wrap her arms around Stiles’ waist.

“Because he chose us to.” Cora made a questioning hum, “He accepted Derek as his Alpha.”

“Why you then?”

Stiles laughed lowly, “I know you’re not that oblivious Cora.”

“He’s courting you.”

“He’s courting me.” Stiles agreed, “And by doing so he’s indicating that he trusts me to watch him, just as he is asking me to trust him to watch me.”

Cora laughed, “I think you’re probably the most dangerous of all of us.”

“Thank you.” Stiles laughed and then just to make her laugh again started cackling evilly.

“Plus you know Peter is kinda like that creepy uncle your parent’s always warned you to stay away from.” Stiles added a few minutes later as both of them stopped laughing.

“Why thank you, precious.” Peter spoke from just behind the two of them, causing Stiles to shriek and flail, dragging Cora off the couch in a tangle of limbs.

“Sometimes, Creeper wolf, I hate you.” Stiles grunted from his position underneath Cora.  
Cora just laughed helplessly.

Then just as Stiles managed to untangle himself and stand she spoke, “So should I be asking you what you intentions are with my brother and my uncle.”

Stiles once again flailed and fell, this time managing to tangle himself up in a lamp from the side table. Leaving both Hale’s laughing at him.

“Hale’s are evil.” He sounded exhausted, and Cora and Peter just laughed harder.  
 


	11. Chapter Eleven

Since Natalia had arrived in Beacon Hills she had listening carefully to all the information her nephew and his pack had shared and had noticed one glaring absence in their stories, no emissary. No mention of the Druid who was supposed to be advising and assisting the Hale Alpha, and when she had enquired she had received only scowls and angry growls from her nephew, and four words from Derek, “I don’t trust him.”

Now standing outside the veterinary clinic that the druid worked out of, she studied the building carefully. She could feel that it was built out of mountain ash, but she couldn’t sense any other wards. She approached the building cautiously, expecting at least one set of hidden wards, and was surprised that nothing appeared as she entered through the unlocked front door.

“I’m sorry we’re closed.” Came a calm voice as a man stepped out to greet her.

She tilted her head, “You are the druid of Beacon Hills are you not?”

“I am the veterinarian.” She frowned at the reply.

“Do you not hold your oaths, druid?” The tiny hint of emotion flickered across his face before it smoothed into a serene expression.

He studied her and finally gave a clear answer, “I hold my oaths. Who are you?”

She smiled sharply and the man restrained a shudder. It had been a long time since Alan Deaton had felt true fear, but this unassuming woman sent shivers through him. If he had encountered her on the streets he would have walked past her without noting anything out of place. He could sense no magical power, nor the aura of a werewolf or other supernatural creature, so why was this woman asked if he held to his oaths.

“An observer.” Her face was blank, but he heard a hint of disgust deep in her voice. “What is the purpose of a druid?”

She obviously already knew the answer so why was she asking, “To maintain the balance.”

“What balance?”

“The balance of nature.” Natalia had to restrain an eye roll at the non-answer.

“What is the purpose of an emissary?”

“To guide and advise their Alpha.”

She smiled briefly as if he had stepped into a trap, “And if one is both an emissary and a druid, what is the priority?”

“The druid has to face each event and judge what purpose comes first.”

She finally let her anger show briefly, “And when a druid decides that the balance of nature comes first, and his pack dies?”

“Then he must accept that balance has been maintained and move on.”

Natalia lost her calm at the answer, “You got your pack killed and believe that was what nature wanted?”

Deaton frowned at her loss of calm, and gently chided her, “If it had not been required by balance then they would not have died.”

Natalia sneered, “You allowed a hunter to enter your territory and rape a vulnerable young member of the pack you were supposed to protect.” Her anger silenced any reply he might have made, “And to make it worse, after the slaughter of the pack you offered no assistance or advice to your new Alpha, leading to her death.” Deaton paled at little and Natalia continued hammering home her point, “Do you know what the Alpha of the Hale Pack said of you when I enquired,” Deaton shook his head. “I don’t trust him.”

Deaton managed to regain his calm, “He may not trust me, but others in the Pack do.”

“No, druid, the only one who trusts you is the vulnerable omega. The 16 year old boy you manipulated into killing someone. You should have picked up a gun and killed Gerard Argent yourself.”

“I cannot interfere directly, I must maintain the balance.”

“Your balance is a lie. You have failed your pack and got them killed.”

“I did not kill Talia Hale.” Deaton finally snapped, “I advised her and she would not listen. I told her to watch Derek. That he was dangerous and had killed his girlfriend, but she refused to listen. Then his family was burnt to death and it was because Derek couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.”

Natalia stared at the man and then moved so fast that it was only by the snap of his head to the side as her fist slammed into his face, that he knew she had moved.

“You disgust me. Derek Hale released his mate from her suffering, her body was rejecting the bite she had received during an attack by a visiting Alpha. Kate Argent then manipulated and used a young boy who was emotionally shattered after his mate died in his arms.” She clenched her fists to stop herself from punching the man again, breathing deeply until she regained control. 

Then she spoke with all the authority of her position as the Head of the North American Magical Council, her magic filling the room as she loosened her tight control of it. “Alan Deaton, you have broken your oath to your Alpha, leading to her death and that of most of her Pack. I find you guilty of oath breaking and never again will you hold the position of emissary. I strip you of the title of Druid, I strip you of your power, I strip you of your magic. I, Natalia Stilinski O’Connor, have spoken and so mote it be.”

Deaton staggered back, clutching his chest as he felt his bonds to the Hale Pack snap, as his magic dissipated back into nature. Oathbreaker, he sunk to his knees in despair, never had he considered that this could be the result of his actions, Marin had warned him that his path had strayed. Oh god, what had he done.

* * * 

“Druid Morrell.” Marin stilled as the woman’s voice spoke from behind her. She let go of her trolley and turned to face the woman she knew was Natalia O’Connor, Head of the North American Magical Council.

“How can I help you, Mrs O’Connor?” She asked politely.

“I require the assistance of a druid to participate in a cleansing ritual.” Mrs O’Connor spoke calmly.

Marin nodded, “I would be honoured to assist.” Natalia smiled at her, “But why me? Why not Druid Deaton.”

Natalia’s smile faded, “I would not trust the Oathbreaker to carry out this duty, considering as a druid he should have felt the sickness in the land and have tried to fix it or at least requested assistance from the Druid Council.”

Marin looked down in sadness at the title, she had been warning Alan for years that he needed to reassess his path and is choice had finally caught up with him. “I have felt the sickness in the land since I arrived 3 months ago,” She meet the woman’s eyes, “I put in a request to the council last week.”

Natalia tilted her head, “It was forwarded to me, since I was already here.”

Marin nodded, and reached into her bag and handed Natalia a card, “Give me a call when you need me.”

“Thank you Druid Morrell.” Natalia turned and started to walk away, “Oh one more thing, emissary.” Marin froze, “This is a separate matter to the current conflict your pack is involved in.”

Marin nodded, even though Natalia had not even turned as she delivered her warning.

* * *

Marin received the call asking for her presence at the main entrance to the reserve on the night of the new moon. So the next night she was standing next to her car, waiting for Natalia to arrive, and was considering what cleansing ritual the woman had selected. A sleek black car pulled up next to hers and Natalia climbed out.

“Druid Morrell.” The woman’s voice was calm and friendly.

“Mrs O’Connor.” Marin replied just as calmly.

Natalia made a face, “Please call me Natalia, every time someone calls me that I look around for my mother-in-law.” 

Marin couldn’t help but laugh, “Then please call me Marin.”

“Marin.” Natalia smiled, “It’s this way.” She indicated, “Let’s head in.”

“Natalia, may I enquire what ritual are we doing?”

“A circle of three focused on the Guardian of the Nemeton, who will guide the Nemeton to heal itself fully and cleanse the preserve.”

Marin hummed, “Who is the third and the Guardian?”

Natalia laughed, a bright sound that danced in the air, “You’ll see when we get there.”

* * * 

“So Stiles,” Paige asked as the young man clambered up onto the stump of the Nemeton to recline next to her, “What does my mate look like now?”

Stiles paused, “Hot like burning.” He replied, “Like the bad boy that your parents told you to stay away from.”

“My Derek? But he was so clean cut.” Paige protested. Stiles considered for a moment and then concentrated hard and an image soon shimmered in being hovering over top of them. 

Paige gasped as she took in Derek in his leather jacketed, brooding and muscled glory. “You were right hot like burning.”

“Ah huh.” Stiles agreed.

“Does he still like to take off his shirt?” Paige questioned.

Stiles concentrated for a moment and the image stripped off his shirt in a slow sexy movement.

“Damn.” Paige said in awe.

“I know.” Stiles agreed and the two of them stared at Derek.

“Have you ever seen him naked?” Paige asked hopefully, turning to look at Stiles.

Who blushed and stuttered, “No.” The image faded as Stiles lost concentration.

“Oh Stiles, I don’t care if you have. I’m dead and he’s, as you said, hot like burning.” Her voice was soft.

“I know, but it still feels a little weird talking about him like this.”

She snuggled into Stiles, “The whole situation is a little weird. But honestly I don’t mind if it’s you that gets Derek, for some reason I trust you to look after him now that I can’t.”

Stiles lay there comforted by Paige’s embrace, “I’ll always look after him, but I will be mated to Peter.”

“So?” Paige questioned, “Wait what does Peter look like now?”

An image of Peter formed in front of them, Stiles finding it easier to create the illusions the more he did it, so he created an image of Derek next to Peter’s. Paige hummed, “I wouldn’t mind being the centre of that particular Hale sandwich.”

Stiles started laughing helplessly at her comment, “I can’t believe I ever pictured you as a demure, quiet girl.”

Paige poked him, “Where on earth did you get that idea?”

“Derek.” Stiles gasped out while trying to avoid her poking finger.

“That doesn’t surprise me.” She relaxed and stopped trying to poke him, “He was always the perfect gentleman, you wouldn’t believe how much trouble I had getting him to let me give him a blow job.”

“You vixen, you.” Stiles laughed. “He’s not quite so gentlemanly now.” 

Paige widened her eyes as she moved to hover over top of him, “You can’t stop there Stiles. Elaborate.” She ordered.

Stiles blushed again, but this was the first chance he’d had to share his first sexual experience. And boy it was strange to be sharing with his Alpha’s dead mate. “So three nights ago it was me, Peter and Derek having dinner at the loft,” He started and Paige looked highly interested, “and I was flirting with Derek a little. He started flirting back and it sort of escalated rather quickly.” He ran a slightly shaky hand through his hair. “There was some rather dirty talk, and I guess Peter hit the end of his rope and the next thing I know I’m straddling Peter, after he leapt the table and tackled me onto the floor.” Paige gasped and shifted against him, “He’s kissing me and we’re sort of writhing all over each other and when I look up Derek is watching us.”

Paige gave a soft whimper, “He has the most intense gaze when he’s turned on.”

“It was hotter because they were glowing red with Alpha power.” Paige twisted so that she was straddling Stiles.

“So he watched Peter get you off?” She asked, small pants coming out of her mouth. Stiles cock was hardening as he reminisced. Paige shifted slightly, meeting Stiles eyes as she rocked her core against his cock.

His hands shifted and came up to hold her hips, “He told me to tell him what to do. He made me give him step by step instructions, stopping if I did.” He rocked up pressing against her. “I watched as he jerked off, while he watched me and his uncle rubbing off against each other.” She moaned and Stiles jerked his hips up harder in to her. He leaned up and whispered into her ear in a hot husky tone, “I bet I’ll be able to talk him into fucking my mouth while his uncle fucks me. I bet you’d like to be able to watch him us me like that, wouldn’t you?”

Paige arched up and came with a cry of “Yes.” 

Stiles laughed gently as she slumped on his chest, “I didn’t know ghosts could orgasm.”

She smacked him on the shoulder, “Jerk.” She sat up straddling him once again, “I would ask you to jerk off for me,” She rolled her hips against him, causing him to gasp, “But your aunt and a Druid are about a minute away.”

He thumped his head back onto the stump, “You are a bitch, and I hate you.” Then he scrambled to his feet and had just managed to stand and adjust his shirt to hide his erection, when his aunt and, to his surprise, his school guidance counsellor entered the clearing around the Nemeton.

“Stiles?” Mrs Morrell asked in surprise, then taking in the way he was leaning against the stump of the Nemeton made a guess, “You’re the Guardian?”

“No, I’m the third.” She stilled a little, to form a circle of three especially one like the one required for this kind of ritual, needed three powerful users of magic and she would never have guessed that Stiles had any power. But then she recalled something.

“Natalia Stilinski O’Connor.” Her voice was calm.

“My paternal aunt.” Stiles confirmed.

Marin nodded seeing the family resemblance, “Then we are waiting for the Guardian? Miss Martin?” She guessed.

Stiles gave her a disappointed look and then extended a hand slightly behind him. She watched in amazement as a ghostly form slowly gained a solid appearance behind him, “Meet the Guardian of the Nemeton.” The young girl, no more that 16 at the oldest, nodded in greeting but did not speak.

Marin inclined her head, it was rare for a Druid to meet a Guardian, as they tended to be some of the most heavily guarded magical people.

“Shall we get started?” Natalia spoke and then released her power. Marin was amazed at the strength of the magic that danced through the clearing, it tasted of clean mountain air and lightning.

Then she was stunned as Stiles dropped the cloak on his magic. It spun wildly around the clearing, a small but powerful snowstorm filling the air with snowflakes. But it was the taste of his magic that truly shocked her, it tasted of ice and the deep earth of the grave. Stiles was a Spark, a powerful Spark that held the power of the grave.

She inclined her head in acknowledgement of his gift, knowing the rarity of that Spark gift.

“If the Guardian would take her position on the Nemeton.” The ghostly girl sat gracefully on the stump. “Stiles, Marin, we need to form a circle around the Nemeton.” The three of them slipped into position and then Natalia’s voice started weaving through the clearing and Marin and Stiles gave themselves over to the ritual that she was weaving with her voice. The power wove delicately around the clearing, ribbons of power weaving around each other in a graceful dance, until the Guardian reached out and accepting a ribbon of power with a delicate and careful touch, and began to feed it to the Nemeton. She carefully shaped the power into a healing stream and the Nemeton easily accepted the power. Paige laughed in delight as she felt the Nemeton healing, and the sickness in the land receding as the Nemeton guided the donated power through its roots and into the land around it. As the three in the circle began to tire the Nemeton reduced the amount of power it was drawing in to barely a trickle, then abruptly the power flow reversed and the Nemeton filtered a strong burst of its cleansed power back through Paige and into the three who had helped it to heal itself and its land. 

All three in the circle found themselves lying on the ground, laughing in delight. It was Stiles who opened his eyes first, “Holy fuck.” His exclamation made the other two abruptly sit up and all three of them stared up in awe at the fully grown and healed oak tree standing in the centre of the clearing.

“Thank you.” The young girl stepped out of the fully healed tree. “I never imagined that this was possible.”

“I’ve never heard of this either.” Natalia spoke, her awe obvious. Marin couldn’t speak but nodded her agreement. 

But Stiles frowned, “I thought this was what we were trying to do. Heal the Nemeton.” He was confused by their reactions.

Natalia looked at Stiles and couldn’t help but laugh, “Yes Stiles, this is the ideal result, but I’ve never heard of anyone ever getting the ideal result.”

“Oh.” Stiles stuck his hands into the pockets of his jeans, “I think that it might have been my fault.” All three woman looked at him in curiosity.

“Why?” Asked Paige.

“Well the tree was dying,” The women nodded in agreement. “And I thought it might be easier if it was not dying.” They nodded in encouragement, trying to get him to elaborate, “And so I fed the tree some of my spirit gift and suggested to the Nemeton that it might be easier to heal the land if it was whole and healthy.”

Paige was the first to laugh, and danced across to him to smack a kiss onto his lips, “I do love you Stiles.”

Natalia joined in the laugher, “And this is why I love working with newly awakened Sparks, they always have the best ideas.”

Marin smiled, all the while thinking that her Pack was screwed.


	12. Chapter 12

For the first time this summer Stiles and Scott were lounging on Stiles’ bed focused on the screen in front of them. They had started the night before after Scott had finished his work at the veterinarian clinic, had played all night and now it was coming up on lunch time. He watched with unhidden amusement as Scott’s character went down, zombies eating him alive as he screamed. Stiles allowed his character to die as Scott moaned and threw down his controller.

“I give up.” He declared, “I’ve been eaten by zombies too many times.” 

Stiles laughed, “Better not tempt fate Scott, that’s all we need in real life zombies.”

Scott looked horrified, but then brightened, “It hasn’t been that bad this summer has it? I mean Erica and Boyd came back unharmed. They obviously just wanted a break from Beacon Hills.”

Stiles gaped in disbelief, “Scott, we rescued them from the Alpha Pack.”

“Alpha Pack?” Scott asked in confusion.

“Really Scott? The pack of murderous Alpha’s that are in town. The one’s I told you about.”

Scott blinked at him, “But they’re after Derek? Why are you worried, it’s not like you are in his Pack, you’re in mine.”

“Scott, I joined Derek’s Pack at the beginning of the summer when I decided to help him find Erica and Boyd.” Stiles spoke slowly, “I told you I was helping to look for them.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to join his Pack to help him, just tell him you can’t be in his Pack anymore. When Alison comes back it will be the three of us.” He grinned, “The three musketeers.”

“Scott.” Stiles thought about how to say this without making Scott angry, then decided just to go for it, “I don’t want to leave his Pack, I’m happy to accept him as my Alpha.”

“You’re not a werewolf, you don’t need an Alpha.”

“I may not need an Alpha, but I want one.” 

“Then I can be your Alpha.” Scott looked so happy, “Then you can tell him to go away.”

“Scott, you’re not an Alpha.” Stiles didn’t even bother addressing the tell him to go away comment.

Scott waved a hand dismissively, “I can become an Alpha, it can’t be that hard if Derek did it.”

Stiles scowled at him, “So who are you going to kill to become Alpha?” He questioned bluntly, sometimes it was the only way to go with Scott.

“Killing is wrong Stiles.” He scolded, then brightened as a thought occurred to him. “I’m sure that the two of us and Alison could figure out a way for me to become Alpha without killing anyone.” He was grinning at the thought of spending more time with Alison, “And I’m sure Dr Deaton would help us, he’s a druid.”

“Deaton’s not a druid anymore.” Stiles started with the easiest point, “He’s been stripped of his title by the North American Magical Council.”

“What? Why?” Scott asked.

“He broke his oaths to the Hale Pack.”

“But the Hale Pack died 6 years ago in the fire.” Scott tried to point out.

“No it didn’t. Their Alpha may have been killed along with most of the Pack, but the Alpha power never left the bloodline. Derek is the Alpha of the Hale Pack now.”

“I can’t believe Derek would do that to Dr Deaton.” Scott looked angry on behalf of his mentor.

“Derek had nothing to do it. The council made their judgement after considering the man’s past actions, or more correctly inaction.”

“But Dr Deaton helped us get rid of Mr Argent.” Scott protested.

“No, he set up a 16 year to poison and kill a man.” Stiles scowled at him, “He used you to kill someone.”

“No he didn’t. I knew Mr Argent was already dying, so I pretended to help him to find out his plans so I could save us.” Scott yelled.

“You helped him so you could have Alison.” Stiles yelled back, “I bet he told you he would let you have her after he got the bite,” Scott paled, “I knew it, it had nothing to do with saving anyone, you did it to get Alison.”

“I love her,” Scott roared back.

“So you would sacrifice the rest of us to ensure you could have her?” Stiles screamed, “Ever since you met Alison it’s like I don’t even know you anymore.” Stiles forcibly calmed himself, “You’ve changed Scott.” He added sadly.

“I haven’t changed, Stiles.” Scott protested.

“Yes you have. You would never have considered that killing someone could be the solution before.”

“Fine you’re right. I have changed I’m a werewolf now. And werewolves kill people.”

Stiles reeled back, “What are you talking about Scott? Werewolves don’t kill people,” Stiles reconsidered, “Okay some werewolves kill people, just like some people kill people.” Stiles reached out to touch Scott’s shoulder, “You don’t have to kill anyone just because you’re a werewolf Scott.”

Scott accepted Stiles’ touch for just a moment then shifted away. “Fine. But…” He trailed off, “Why don’t you want to be in my Pack Stiles?”

“Because I’m part of Derek’s Pack, and that’s where I want to be.”

Scott looked devastated, “But it’s always been the two of us.”

“And now it’s not, would you get rid of Alison to go back to just the two of us?”

Scott was already shaking his head, “No.”

“Exactly, now it’s you and Alison, and me and the Pack and I think we’re both happy.” Stiles was trying to be comforting.

Scott gave him puppy eyes, “Why couldn’t it be me, Alison and you.”

Stiles sighed and knew it was time, that he had reached the point of no return in their friendship. Did he lie and keep their friendship by making Scott happy, or did he tell the truth and probably destroy or at least heavily damage their friendship. 

As much as Stiles hated the possibility of ending their friendship, he knew that he couldn’t lie. He would never be able to trust Alison, and therefore he didn’t want to be her friend and she was a package deal with Scott. Nor could he give up the Pack, they were his family now and family was the most important thing to him. He would never willingly abandon family.

“Scott,” Stiles hesitated and then taking a deep breath carried on, “I don’t like Alison.”

Scott’s eyes widened in shock, “But? What? Why?” He cried.

“I don’t trust her.” Scott stared at him in disbelief. “She helped her psychotic grandfather capture two of her classmates, and in the process shot them full of arrows.” Scott opened his mouth to defend her and then shut it at Stiles hard look, “Then she ignored the screams coming from the basement as he tortured them.”

“But, but…” Scott tried to think of something to say.

Stiles shook his head, “I don’t trust her and I don’t think I ever will. She’s weak, easily manipulated and has a sadistic streak.”

Scott started to puff up to defend her, “Don’t Scott, nothing you say could change my mind. Now do you want to play some more games?”

Scott was silent, then slowly shook his head, “Actually I think I might go home.”

Stiles nodded and then watched in silence as Scott packed his stuff up and slipped from the room. Stiles sat in silence and tears started to fall from his eyes.

“Oh kiddo.” He dad said from the doorway.

“Dad, did I just lose my best friend?” Stiles asked brokenly. His dad moved over to the bed and pulled him up to engulf him in a hug.

“No kiddo, I think you gave Scott a hard truth to consider. I don’t think your friendship is over, but I do think that it has changed, you’ve both got other friends now and it needed to change to make allowance for them.”

They sat in comfortable silence, Stiles soaking up his father’s comfort and calm.

“Although,” His father sounded contemplative, “I won’t mind if you got rid of Peter Hale.”

“Dad.” Stiles protested with a laugh.

* * * 

Stiles was lying on Derek’s bed reading a book, having retreated from the chaos downstairs. Isaac had goaded Cora into a wrestling match and so far they had destroyed a side table, a lamp and spilt soda on the floor. They had also caused Derek to yell at them, after they had rolled into his legs and taken him down. 

Stiles had been enjoying watching the chaos, but when Derek had started yell he had retreated upstairs to read his book, it was a fascinating description of different types of wards and Stiles wanted to start warding the places the Pack spent time at, as soon as he could.

Soon he was deep into the book, piles of notes scattered around him on the bed. He had taken notes on some of the different types of wards he wanted to try out. Before his aunt had returned home to San Francisco she had told him that he would have to experiment with different techniques to find the one that would work for him, as all Sparks had different ways of focusing their magic that could only be discovered through trail and error. After hearing that Stiles had figured out that the way she directed and controlled her air talent was through her voice. When he had told her his conclusion she had only laughed and admitted that yes she did use her voice to direct her magic, but that was only one of the ways. And that yes it was one of the reasons she was the Head of the Council. 

The day after she had gone home, a large box of books had arrived at the house for Stiles. Both Stiles and Peter had gone into a fit of delight at the treasures inside. The books ranged in topic from the history of magic, to potions, spells and rituals, and different systems of magic. Stiles had focused on the protection and warding books so that he could protect his dad and the Pack.

The bed dipped beside him as someone climbed on, “Go away Peter, reading.” Stiles grunted, then made a lunge for the book as it was taken away from him, “Noooo, mine.” He pouted as Peter effortlessly held him down with one hand and used the other to put the book on the bed side table.

“We need to talk Stiles.” Peter’s tone caused Stiles to stop pouting and turn his attention to the man. 

“About what?” He asked curiously.

“Mating.”

“Not until I’m eighteen at the earliest.” Was Stiles glib reply.

Peter leered at him, “I can’t wait, precious, to see you spread out underneath me.”

Stiles flapped his hand at the man, “Get back to the mating talk, Creeper wolf.”

Peter’s leer dropped off his face, his face gaining a serious cast. “What do you know about werewolf mating?”

Stiles cocked his head as started to detail what he had learnt knowing that it was important. “I know that it is a conscious decision made by the werewolf, none of the soul mate crap that’s in a lot of fanfiction.” Peter laughed lightly, and Stiles continued, “It’s permanent at least for the wolf and incredibly strong even for a human. It’s based on scent, physical attraction and mental compatibility,” He shrugged a little, “It seemed to me to be just like two humans falling in love, but with more permanence. Then there’s the mating bite. The werewolf gives their mate a bite, hard enough to break the skin and when it heals it leaves a permanent scar.”

Peter nodded at Stiles description. “All correct, but there are some more details.” He took a deep breath. “You are right about the whole soul mate thing being a load of crap, but mating is not just like humans falling in love.” He had stood and begun to pace as he talked, but now paused to look at Stiles who had shifted to sit cross legged in order to watch Peter. “We may not have soul mates, but a person’s scent does let us know almost as soon as we meet them that we are compatible and could be mates.”

“Dude, I was 16 when we meet, are you telling me you knew then?” Stiles protested.

Peter frowned, “I wasn’t really…” He trailed off, “I wasn’t thinking in those terms, but I knew I didn’t want to hurt you.” Then he leered, “At least not with my hands.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, and playfully responded, “Pervert.”

“But yes, I think I knew that something could be there, and once I came back I wanted to know more.” He came back and lay down in front of Stiles, placing his head into Stiles’ lap. Stiles followed the unspoken request and started combing his fingers through Peter’s soft hair.

“So what else do I need to know about mating?” Stiles asked softly.

“A mate is a stabilising influence on a werewolf’s behaviour, they help us control our instinctive behaviours.” Stiles frowned at Peter’s words.

“What if both mates are werewolves?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Peter’s reply was definite, “Both wolves are settled by each other.”

“So what I’ll help you control your murderous impulses?” Stiles asked, Peter stilled at his matter of fact tone and then released a slightly unsteady voice.

“Yes, you’ll help me control my impulses, not stop them completely of course, but control them.”

Stiles scoffed lightly, “Please, you wouldn’t be you if you turned into a fluffy peaceful wolf.”

A smile briefly crossed Peter’s face as he listened to Stiles words. “It would be permanent for you as well as me because of you being a Spark.”

Stiles nodded, “I thought so, but that’s cool.”

Peter reached up and stilled Stiles’ hand and tilted his head up to meet Stiles eyes, “And if something happened to either one of us, we’d never get over it. In fact,” Peter looked sorrowful, “Most mates follow their mate into death.”

“But not Derek.” Stiles stated, his eyes sad.

“We were really worried at the time, he seemed to be wasting away before our eyes, until one day he seemed to stabilise.” Stiles privately thought that was probably when Paige’s bond with the Nemeton settled. “The whole family was so happy.”

“Who did you lose?” Stiles asked gently, Peter sounded too sad to have not lost someone.

“My sister, his aunt Helen. When she was 18 she mated with a werewolf from another pack, they were on their honeymoon and were attacked by hunters. Helen made it back to us, but wasted away and followed her mate into death within six months.”

Stiles tugged his hands free from Peter’s grasp and managed to wiggle around so that he was tucked into Peter’s side his hand resting over Peter’s heart.

He wanted to lighten the mood, “So do you give your mate the mating bite when you’re balls deep inside them?”

Peter laughed, “Only if you want to. It’s a private decision between mates.” He leered at Stiles trying to be playful but Stiles could read an element of seriousness and fear in his eyes, “There is one big thing that is something you should know about werewolves when they are having sex with their mates.”

“Oh you mean when they knot?” Stiles asked casually, “I’m kind of looking forward to it.”

Peter gaped at him, totally surprised by how casual Stiles was being, then he frowned, “How do you know about knotting?”

Stiles made a disgusted face, “Scott.” 

Peter instantly echoed his face. “Ewww. Wait when did he figure it out?”

“Guess.” Stiles started laughing, “That was the most awkward phone call we’ve ever had, especially since I knew that Alison had to be listening.”

“So Peter, when do I need to ask Derek’s permission to form a mate bond with his beta?” Stiles teased.

“I’m pretty sure he’s fine with it. Especially since he watched us get off together.” Peter teased back.

Stiles smirked internally, then turned fake horrified eyes up to Peter. “Does that mean my father has to watch us have sex?”

Peter’s eyes bulged in surprise and terror, “Fuck no, but shit he’s going to shoot me.”

Derek’s amused laughter came from the doorway, “It probably won’t be fatal uncle Peter.” He sauntered into the room, “But it will hurt a lot.”

Stiles started laughing, losing his composure at the horrified look on Peter’s face. Derek sighed at the state of his bed and started clearing it of Stiles’ notes. Peter was glaring playfully at Stiles and then rolling them onto the clear side of the bed so that Derek could move the rest of the paper. Once he was on top of Stiles his fingers starting digging into Stiles sides causing Stiles to writhe and giggle while trying to escape. As soon as Derek had cleared the bed he slid on and added his fingers to the mix.

Stiles was breathlessly wiggling, but managed to gasp out, “Monsters, someone help me, I’m being attacked by monsters.”

“Hell no.” Called Isaac as he wandered past the door.

“Horrible child. Cora won’t you help me?” He cried out spotting Cora leaning against the door frame.

“There’s no way I’m getting involved in your weird threesome.” Cora replied.

“I can’t believe it,” Stiles’ voice was steadier as Derek and Peter had stopped tickling him. “How could you not want to climb into bed with these two studs?”

Peter hooked his chin over Stiles shoulder and leered at her, “Yes Cora how could you not want to climb into bed with your brother and uncle?”

Cora rolled her eyes, then called over her shoulder as she walked away, “Please uncle Peter, I can do better than the two of you, plus if I did Stiles would never look at you again,” She turned to smirk at Stiles over her shoulder, “He’d be following me like a puppy.”

Stiles laughed in delight at her sass. “Well she’s definitely a Hale.”

Stiles relaxed against Peter and looked at Derek who was lying on his side staring at the two of them a slight smile on his face. Peter rubbed his cheek against Stiles’ scent marking him. Stiles’ flung out a leg and tossed it over Derek and slumped further into Peter. He had to admit to himself that this was never a situation he had thought he would be in, lounging on a bed with two older men with the future plan of having sex with them, not to mention the incest aspect. He looked at the contentedness on Derek’s face and felt the gentle affection that Peter was holding him with and couldn’t bring himself to regret the decisions that had led him here.

“So I have to ask, but incest?” Stiles tried really hard not to blush, but failed, “Is it common amongst werewolves?”

Derek shrugged, “Don’t know, I know sexuality and the surrounding bullshit matters a lot less to werewolves, and that there is less sexual taboos amongst us, but I never really paid that much attention.” 

Peter hummed, “Incest is not common in Packs, but it’s not forbidden. It’s frowned upon between male and female, due to the possibility of inbreeding, and between older and under aged members, because of the possibility of manipulation and coercion. But between consent adults of the same sex it’s pretty much politely ignored.”

“And when mates get added into it?” Stiles asked, groaning slightly in pleasure as Derek had started massaging his feet.

“That’s between the wolves and mates involved.” Peter stroked his hands down Stiles side, but not sexually, “The have been some cases of mate bonds forming between multiple people in the family histories.

“Really?” Derek asked in curiosity, having not heard this before.

“Yes, your great aunt Maggie was part of a tri-bond with two male wolves, and your great grandfather’s cousin Harold managed to mate with two human women and a male fae.” 

“Kinky.” Stiles piped up, then his brain jumped sideways. “I wonder if I can find out any more interesting stories about my family.”

“Stiles your aunt told us the story of your ancestor becoming the consort to a faerie god.” Derek reminded him fondly.

“Oh yeah.” His voice was soft with memory when he continued, “My mother used to tell me stories before I went to sleep that were like that. I mean it was different, but still kind of the same.” Stiles shrugged, “And I think her story was more likely to be correct, or at least less incorrect.”

“Why?” Peter asked curiously.

“Because mum’s story had names and places, and you know a lot more pain for the people involved.”

“What were the differences then?” Derek asked, his hands casually removing Stiles pants without Stiles noticing.

“Firstly the siblings weren’t twins, he was a number of years older than her and they were half siblings. And she was kidnapped by a neighbour and forced to marry him, and her brother came to rescue her. He killed and tortured a number of the kinsman of the kidnapper, before they were forbidden to fight by the king, who feared that their private feud would destabilise the kingdom. So she got to return to her father’s castle with her brother for half the year and had to spend the other half of the year with her husband.”

While Stiles had been talking Derek and Peter had managed to strip both themselves and him to their underwear and Derek had got up to close and lock his door.

“I’ve noticed that neither your aunt or you named them, who were they?” Derek asked as he climbed back into the bed as Peter manhandled Stiles under the covers.

“Gwyn ap Nudd and Creiddylad.”

Peter gave a startled gasp, “Your ancestor is the Lord of the Wild Hunt?” Stiles nodded as he wigged and settled down between the two men, “Does your aunt know that?”

“Eh, I don’t think so and that’s on my mum’s side anyway.” Stiles replied, “I think she would have mentioned it if she knew.” He wiggled again, “Are you asking because she asked him to hunt down Gerard?”

“You know about that?” Peter asked in surprise.

“Well yeah, I heard the horns and figured she was the only one who could call upon him and also that Gerard was the only one in town that she would need to call the wild hunt for.”

“Horns? You mean the ones that sounded last week?” Derek asked.

Peter thumped his head into his pillow, “Why did neither of you say anything earlier?”

“Why would we need to?” Stiles asked confused, “It’s not like the hunt was after any of us.”  
Derek nodded in agreement.

“Now tell me more about your kinky ancestors.” Stiles demanded.

“Fine,” Peter contemplated, “There was a story about one of our ancestors.” He settled comfortable into a position wrapped around Stiles, his chest pressing against Stiles back, one hand creeping over Stiles to wrap around Derek’s wrist. 

* * *

Once upon a time there was a powerful pack that was the envy of their neighbours, for they had land, wealth and happiness. But the real object of their envy was the youngest son of the Alphas, for the boy was known throughout the lands for his beauty and his kindness and many desired to mate with him. 

However the pack was protective of the boy and although his beauty was widely spoken of it was rarely witnessed. One day the king of the lands heard of the boy and his beauty and desired to see him, so he sent his messenger to the Pack and invited the Alpha, his mate and their son to visit him at the palace. 

However the Alpha sent back a polite refusal for it was harvest time and they could not spare the time to leave their lands. The king sent another message inviting them to visit after the harvest, but once again the Alpha sent back a polite refusal, this time saying that their eldest daughter was about the give them their first grandchild and they dared not leave. The king was angered, but his queen calmed him and he sent a third invitation, this time the refusal came with no excuse and the king was outraged, how dare this family refuse him. 

So he packed up his court and soldiers and set off to see the boy for himself. Every refusal only made his desire to see the boy ever stronger. The king and his court travelled for weeks to reach the castle. Upon their arrival they were greeted with smiles and joy much to their confusion. The king and queen were invited to join the feast in the castle and they went with joy, for the king was going to see his desire, and the queen to meet those to who would deny her husband, for she was young and newly married to a powerful man rarely denied.

The king and his queen entered the castle and were greeted by the Alpha and his mate. The king looked in vain for the boy he so desired to see, but could not see anyone to match the beauty he had heard of and so it was with regret that he sat for the feast. 

The queen however was delighted for she had been seated to the left of the king and to the right of a young man who cheerfully explained why the inhabitants of the castle were so joyful. For the Alpha’s eldest daughter had given birth to triplets, two lovely girls and a darling boy and today they had been formally presented to the Pack, when the queen heard of this she sent a servant to fetch a gift for the children, for she loved children but was not likely to have her own as her husband had four strapping sons and had focused his attentions on the young men of the kingdom, having only visited her bed once, on the night of her wedding. The servant returned carrying three packages and the queen sent the servant away with thanks. The young man explained that the gifts would be presented after the feast was over, and the queen placed the gifts on the table. 

The two spent the night talking, the queen delighted that she had someone to talk to for she was lonely in her husband’s court and the young man delighted that such a beautiful young woman would so happily engage one such as him in conversation, for he was badly scarred a result of a hunt gone wrong in the year before.

The feast was soon over and the queen watched with interest as the lower ranking members of the castle moved up to present their gifts. Each gift was received with delight by the proud mother, from the handmade flower crown given by a young girl, to the badly carved wooden horse from a young apprentice, to the finest of robes presented by the wealthier members of the pack. The young man nudged her as the crowd thinned and she stood to approach the beaming woman. She smiled at her and cooed at the three babies, then spoke as she gently placed her gift around the neck of the first of the girls, ‘A sun for the eldest so she may shine ever bright. A moon for the second so that she know that light always returns,’ She bent and placed a gentle kiss on the forehead of the boy, ‘And for the youngest a star so that his nights will never be dark.’

The mother of the children had tears in her eyes for it was rare to receive such a blessing. And the Alpha and his mate greeted her as family upon her return to their table. For the Alpha’s mate recognised the gifts and the words as those of a blessed soul. The king had not noticed his wife’s actions for his eye had been caught by a young man and he was focused on luring him to bed. The queen restarted her conversation with the young man she had been sitting with and the presentation of gifts continued.

* * *

“Not that this isn’t fascinating, Uncle Peter, but I thought it was supposed to be a kinky story?” Derek asked as Peter paused to take a short break.

Before Peter could reply, Stiles elbowed Derek and shushed him, “Don’t interrupt.” Stiles was staring at Peter intently from where he was tucked in against Derek, Peter hadn’t even felt Stiles move. At this encouragement Peter continued.

* * *

It was not long until the king left with his bed mate for the night, leaving his queen alone with the young man and the Alpha pair. The queen barely noticed her husband’s absence for she was deeply involved in conversation, as the night took over completely the three gently guided the queen to a private sitting room where their conversation could continue uninterrupted by celebrating pack members.

The night drifted on and the queen barely noticed as the environment of the room shifted into one far more intent and intimate, but she didn’t protest as the young man kissed her, nor when the Alpha followed suit, and nor when the Alpha’s mate stripped her of her dress. She moaned as the young man kissed her breasts, as the Alpha fondled her, as the Alpha’s mate licked her intimately. She moaned in delight as she rode the young man, as the Alpha pressed into her ass and as the Alpha’s mate pinched and sucked her nipples. She gasped in pleasure as she watched the young man mount the Alpha’s mate and the Alpha knotted her own ass. The four of them fornicated all night and it wasn’t until dawn as the Alpha’s mate licked her mate’s cum from the queen’s ass and the young man moaned daddy as the Alpha fucked him that she realised that her young man was in fact the young man the king had come to see, and she was fiercely glad that the king had been blinded by the scars and that she had been able to have him.

It was only after the Alpha and his mate had left the room, and it was her and her young man she thought to enquire after the father of the triplets. ‘My father of course. He takes his Alpha Right seriously, the Alpha has the right of virginity over the pack and the right to be the first to seed their daughters.’

Later that day as the queen rode away at the side of her husband she knew she would be back, for she knew that the child she now carried was the young man’s and his destiny lay with his father’s pack.

Years later the widowed queen rode back to the Pack’s castle and with her rode a young boy on the cusp of manhood. The Alpha of the Pack greeted her arrival with joy and she smiled at the young man she had loved, now a fully grown man and the Alpha.

‘Alpha, I’d like you to meet your son.’

And thus the Hale family was born.

* * * 

“So the Hale family started with an unfaithful queen who had sex with a husband and wife and their son, gave birth to a child and then deliver the child back just in time for his father to fuck him?” Stiles queried.

“Yes, Stiles, that’s the origin of the Hale family.”

“Kinky enough for you Derek?” Stiles teased his Alpha who nodded with a small laugh before they settled into sleep.

* * * 

Stiles had a mouthful of waffle when his father plonked a box of condoms in front of him, “Dad! I’m eating here I don’t want to know about your sex life.” He protested.

His father snort, “Stiles.” He gave his son a fatherly look, “The condom’s aren’t for me, they’re for you.”

“But I’m not having sex.” Stiles protested again. At his father’s sceptical look, Stiles put his fork down to more fully address his father’s concerns. “No really, I’m not having sex. I’m waiting until I’m 18.”

“Stiles, you’ve been sleeping at the loft regularly and you are constantly touching the two of them.”

“Yeah, I’ve been sleeping at the loft, emphasis on sleeping. And I touch them because they are werewolves and physical contact helps strengthen and stabilise pack bonds.” Stiles pointed out.

“Fine. You say you’re waiting until you’re eighteen, and Derek and Peter are alright with this? And that still confuses me, are you dating both of them?”

Stiles blushed a little, “I’m not really sure about who I’m dating, it might just be Peter, but it could also be both of them.”

His father scowled, “I don’t like Peter, Derek would be far better. Why can’t you just date him?” The sheriff asked, “At least the age gap isn’t so big.”

Stiles scoffed, “No you’re right an 8 year gap is just so much better than a 12 year gap.”

“Double digits, Stiles.” His father pointed out.

“He spent six of those in a coma.” Stiles countered.

His dad sighed, “And that’s the only reason I haven’t shot him yet.”

“He’s not that bad dad.” Stiles replied, then continued a little sheepishly, “He hasn’t killed anyone since he came back from the dead.”

His dad rolled his eyes, “It worries me that you can make a statement like that and not be kidding.” Stiles shrugged helplessly in agreement, it’s not like it wasn’t true. “Do you trust him Stiles?” His father asked seriously.

Stiles nodded sharply, “Yes.”

“That he will protect you and keep you safe?”

“Yes.”

“That he will keep his wandering hands off you?” 

Stiles levelled a look at his dad, “I’m not having sex until I’m 18, that doesn’t mean we’re not touching.”

The sheriff’s eyes looked delighted, “He’s touched you sexually? Yes,” he pumped a fist into the air, “That means I can arrest him.” He cheered.

Stiles rolled his eyes, “Please like any charges laid would stick, I’m 18 in a month and we haven’t had sex. Dad,” he looked serious, “I wouldn’t embarrass you by breaking the law like that, and to be honest I’m quite happy to wait. I’m getting to spend time with Peter and Derek getting to know them without sex coming into it. Plus you know after Kate Derek won’t touch anyone under the age of 18.” He added sheepishly.

His father rolled his eyes. “Fine, I believe you, take the condoms and hold onto them until you’re 18, if you need more let me know.”

“Please dad, I’m going to be buying my own condoms to show off the fact that I’m banging two of the hottest men in town.”

The sheriff cringed, “Don’t say anymore, please. I don’t want to know any details, it’s bad enough knowing that you are going to be having sex. And with two men as well.”

“And you haven’t been making eyes at that new Deputy.” Stiles struck out.

The sheriff valiantly tried to fight of a blush, but failed, “That doesn’t mean anything, I just think he’s attractive.” Stiles had been aware for years that his father was attracted to both men and women, and guessed that his father probably felt more comfortable admitting his attraction to a man, because they wouldn’t be competing with Claudia’s memory.

“Do you think he would call you daddy?” Stiles asked slyly, enjoying being able to make his father squirm.

His father blushed violently, but soon regained control over his reaction, and trying to one up his son, leered, “Do you call Peter daddy?”

Stiles laughed, “No I call him master.” 

A grimaced crossed the sheriff’s face. “I give up. I can’t play this game with you.” A slightly fearful expression crossed his face and Stiles could tell he was arguing with himself about asking a question, “Do you…” Stiles raised an eyebrow in amusement at his father’s stutter, “Do they take turns?”

“Peter and Derek?” Stiles clarified, his dad nodded a grimace showing that he almost regretted asking, “We’ve never hit the stage that we’ve had to think about it.”

“And when you do?” As Stiles opened his mother, “No wait I don’t want to know, forget I asked.” His father interrupted his answer and then abruptly turned and left.

“Thanks for the condoms, but you forgot the lube.” Stiles called after him.

He just missed getting hit in the head as his father flung a bottle at him.

“Thanks.” Stiles called out. He heard his father stomping around upstairs and then called out, “Are you coming in Derek?”

“How long have you known I was outside?” Derek asked as he came into the house through the kitchen. 

“I felt you arrive just as dad gave me the condoms.” Stiles answered around a mouthful of waffle. Stabbing Derek’s hand with his fork as he tried for a piece of waffle. “There’s batter beside the waffle maker.” He directed and Derek scowled but headed over to make his own waffles. The two of them were sitting next to each other eating waffles when the Sheriff came down in his uniform.

“Derek? When did you get here?” He asked, “I didn’t hear you pull up.”

“I ran over.” Derek answered, after swallowing his waffles.

The Sheriff shook his head, “Stiles I’m heading in to work, don’t destroy the house.” He added as he left the room. “And no sex.” He yelled as he went out the front door.

Stiles rolled his eyes as Derek huffed in amusement. There was silence as they consumed the last of their waffles.

“So if we do hit the point when we need to decide about turn taking, what do you want to do?” Derek asked curiously as he played with the empty glass in front of him.

“You mean when we’re having sex?” Stiles asked, at Derek’s nod, Stiles paused to consider. “I think I’ll be happy with whatever you guys want to do.”

“And if I want Derek to fuck you so hard you pass out and when you come to I want it to be with me pounding into your sloppy ass?” Peter asked leaning on the door frame having silently entered the house from the kitchen like Derek had.

Stiles swallowed, and both wolves smirked as his scent spiked with arousal. “That would be fine.”

“And if I wanted to be fucking your throat while Peter fucks your ass.” Derek’s eyes were very focused. 

“Also fine.” Stiles was panting slightly in arousal.

“But what do you want Stiles?” Peter’s voice was husky as he leaned on the back of Stiles’ chair.

“I want you to use me as you want, I want to be begging, I want to be hurting.” Stiles swallowed this time slightly nervous and then shifted so he could see both of them, “I want to watch as Derek fucks your ass so hard you beg him to stop,” both wolves eyes widened slightly neither had thought that Stiles would want that. “I want to watch as Derek takes your cock up his ass and in his mouth.” Stiles watched intently as both Derek and Peter shifted slightly, “I want to watch Derek beg his uncle to fuck him.” Peter inhaled unsteadily and rocked slightly against the chair while Derek’s eyes dilated to almost completely black, “And then…” Stiles swallowed and the two wolves focused intently on him, knowing that whatever came next would be interesting and probably extremely kinky, “I want to watch Derek fucking his beta while in Alpha form.”

Peter moaned a little is desire, pressing hard against the chair, his fingers going white from how hard he was grasping the chair, and Derek grunted a hand going down to press against his rock hard leaking dick.

“Fuck Stiles, where do you get your ideas?” Peter managed to ask.

“I watch a lot of porn and I have a very good imagination.” Stiles was stroking his cock through his pyjama pants.

Derek raised an eyebrow, “You found bestiality porn on the Internet?”

Stiles laughed, “Please Derek I can find almost anything on the Internet, but no I haven’t looked.” He looked contemplative, “Watching an animal fucking someone, that’s not cool. But watching a werewolf with human intelligence fuck a consenting adult, that’s hot.”

“So if I said lets go upstairs and watch some porn?” Peter sounded more composed.

“I’d say no way, because there’s no way we could go upstairs and watch porn together without having sex.”

Derek huffed in laughter again, “True.”

Peter was also laughing, “I agree.”

“After my birthday, then.” Stiles said laughing slightly, “But I do have another suggestion. If you guys are up for it?” Derek and Peter looked at him curiously, “Blowjob.”

Peter leered, “I’d be happy to suck your cock precious, but I think a blowjob still counts as sex.”

Stiles blushed wildly, “I didn’t mean me.”

“You want to watch one of us give the other a blowjob.” Derek asked huskily. Stiles nodded still blushing wildly. Derek stood and Stiles was worried, “Well come on then I want to be comfortable if Peter’s giving me a blowjob.” 

Peter followed Derek protesting, “Why do I have to give you a blowjob, I’m older you should be giving me a blowjob.”

Stiles eyes were glazed as trailed after them.

“If you do a good job, I might return the favour.” Derek replied as closed the curtains and then wandered back to the couch, dropping his pants.

Peter was still protesting even as he settled down between Derek’s open thighs, his hands coming to rest on Derek’s thighs. Stiles staggered over to the couch and sat next to Derek, and watched with avid eyes as Peter lowered his head. 

Peter breathed lightly, blowing a breath over Derek’s cock. “Get on with it Uncle Peter.” Derek ordered and Peter heard Stiles gasp slightly. Peter dropped his head suddenly and Derek grunted as his uncle sucked him down to the root. Peter swallowed once and then lifted off, licking delicately around the head of Derek’s cock, savouring the taste of precome. He continued licking alternating between long sweeping licks and delicate kittenish licks enjoying Derek’s rising frustration. He was surprised when a hand slid into his hair and recognised it as Stiles’. The hand guided him down, so that Derek’s cock filled his mouth and then lifted off again, and the slowly repeated the movements until Derek grunted, wrapped his uncle’s short hair in his fist and then pulled harshly down as his hips jerked up. Peter could only moan as his nephew began to roughly use his mouth.

“Fuck that’s hot.” Stiles whispered and Peter heard the rustling of clothing as Stiles freed his cock. Derek fucked up sharply and Peter choked at the unexpected movement and wondered what Stiles had done to get that reaction. Derek jerked his head up and gave him a chance to catch his breath and he looked at Stiles who was stroking him cock dazedly while staring at the two of them, however it was Stiles second hand that caught Peter’s attention, it was lower and he watched as Stiles ran a finger over his puckered anus. Peter forgave Derek if this was what had distracted him, and when he looked at Derek it was to see glowing red eyes fixed on Stiles’ finger movements. 

Peter dug his fingers into Derek’s thighs breaking his fixation, then taking advantage of the loosened fingers pulled his head free, ignoring Derek’s grunt of disapproval. “Hold out your fingers Stiles,” Peter ordered huskily. 

Stiles obeyed and Peter took the first hand between his hands and then holding Stiles’ glazed amber eyes proceeded to lath saliva over his fingers to get them slick, and did the same on the other hand when it was offered. Derek slid his hands back into Peter’s hair and impatiently guided him back towards his cock.

“Finger yourself for us Stiles, show us how well your hole will take it.” Derek’s voice was rough with arousal. Both of them watched avidly as Stiles opened in thighs wider and then slowly pushed his finger in, whining softly at the feeling. Stiles took the single spit slicked finger easily and then with heavily lidded eyes watching them, pulled the finger out and then pushed two into himself. Peter moaned and made a movement towards Stiles, halted only by the tight grip his nephew had on his hair. 

“You’re such a good boy for us baby. I bet you’d be able to take my cock easily, wouldn’t you.” Stiles’ slumped backwards as Derek talked to him, his eye’s fluttering shut as he moved his fingers within his body, his other hand was working his cock frantically, “I know you look good when you cum baby, will you cum for your Alpha and your mate.” Peter whined as Derek acknowledged them as mates.

“Cum for me precious,” Peter whispered brokenly, “Cum for your mate.”

Stiles’ body jerked and he gasped, jamming his fingers hard into his ass. “Yessss,” his hissed as he came, “Mate, Alpha.” He trailed off as his body went limp in his afterglow.

Peter found his head roughly jerked around and a cock deep in his throat, as Derek started to fuck his face. Peter moaned in pleasure as his nephew used him roughly and on the upward drag, he sucked hard and swallowed when Derek’s cock hit his throat and it wasn’t long until Derek’s thrusts grew uneven and then Peter could nothing but try to swallow as Derek came hard. The first two pulses hit his throat, but Derek jerked him off his cock and Peter felt the last pulse of cum splash onto his face. Peter rocked back onto his heels and looked at his panting bliss faced nephew and then he was tackled by Stiles who pushed him to the floor and straddled him. Stiles eyes were bright as he stared at Peter’s face.

“That is so hot.” Then he leaned forward and much to Peter’s surprise he didn’t get the kiss he expected, instead Stiles licked up some of Derek’s cum, “Not as bad as I expected.” Was his comment, then he proceeded to lick Peter’s face free of cum. Peter hadn’t cum yet and the obvious joy Stiles was getting swallowing Derek’s cum wasn’t helping his frustration. So it was with a grateful moan that he felt Derek’s hands jerkily yanking off his pants, Stiles lifting up slightly to assist, his cock was freed and Derek’s hot hand wrapped tightly around his cock. Stiles settled back down and moaned as Peter’s erect cock wrapped in Derek’s fist lay hot against his ass, he started rocking back and Peter’s fingers dug into his hips as Peter thrust upwards against Stiles and into Derek’s fist.

“Cum for us uncle Peter, mark your mate with your cum.” Derek’s voice was husky and when Peter dragged his eyes open it was to the sight of Stiles arched backwards while rocking frantically against him, and his nephew peering over Stiles’ shoulder with glowing eyes. He whined needing more, and arched up thrusting frantically, moaning in frustration as he just couldn’t seem to come. Then he felt his legs being jerked apart and a painful burn as Derek thrust a dry finger up his ass, his body clenched in pain and he grunted as he came violently. Stiles whined and Peter opened his eyes to see Stiles reach behind him and then bring a cum slicked hand back to wrap it around his cock and frantically jerk off till with a moan he came for a second time.

Peter lay on his back, with Stiles slumped on top of him both panting and Derek kneeling next to them.

“I’m pretty sure that was sex.” Was Peter’s dry comment as he recovered.

“Not with me it wasn’t. No part of your body entered mine, and I don’t count frottage as sex.”

“So you’re happy to tell your dad that you still haven’t had sex then?” Derek’s voice was steady, even as he started to move quickly for his pants.

“What?” Stiles’ voice was high as he dived for his own pants, Peter scrambling to follow suit.

“Stiles, where are you?” The Sheriff’s voice came from the front door. “I left my badge behind.”

Peter ended up diving behind the couch, because there was no way that the sheriff could miss the cum on his clothes. Derek and Stiles had managed to tidy themselves up so that it looked like they had just been making out, and the suspicious, but not homicidal, look the Sheriff was wearing confirmed that.

“Hi dad, we were, um…” Stiles trailed off.

“Not getting ready to use those condoms?” 

“Of course not sir.” Derek’s voice was steady. “Stiles is still underage.”

“Right, of course son. Have fun, but not too much.” The sheriff said as he headed for the door having grabbed his badge. “And Peter you may as well stop hiding behind the couch, your shoes are in the kitchen.” He called out as he went out the front door.

Peter flopped backwards, “Your father terrifies me.”

Stiles could only laugh helplessly.  
 


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Stiles was sitting on a bench at the front of Beacon Hills Public Library waiting for his dad to pick him up. It was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and Stiles had spent the day at the library researching the history of Beacon Hills, to see if he could find out when the Nemeton started to grow and increase in power. He was trying to trace the pre-Hale guardians to see if there was anything that he could share with Paige, who had learnt all her skills and gained her knowledge directly from the Nemeton itself, helpful in most ways but not so helpful in others because as a tree it missed certain things that were very important to the human guardians. 

He’d found one mention of a shaman of the native tribe who had managed to somehow kill the land around the Nemeton, however the story was a recorded oral story and it was not very detailed. Stiles had copied all the information he could find from that source and when he got home he was planning on jumping onto the web to see if he could find some more information from other sources.

Stiles had his headphones on with ‘Disturbed’ blaring in his ears, reading his book when a warning shiver ran down his spine. When he looked up from his book he cursed internally as his gaze met the glowing red eyes of four alpha werewolves. Then he swore aloud and tug his ear-buds from his ears.

“Fuck. Uh hi, can I help you?” Stiles was pretty pleased that he managed to keep his voice steady.

The biggest of the wolves smirked, “Sure little human, come with us without making a scene.”  
Stiles looked around and gulped, there was no one around even if he did make a scene. Boy did he regret telling Derek and Peter that he would be fine at the library by himself. There is no way now that they will ever let him go anywhere by himself ever again, hopefully there would be an ‘again’ after this. At least, when he risked a glimpse at his watch, his father was at least 10 minutes away, so he wouldn’t be caught up in this mess and get hurt. He swallowed nervously and knew that the wolves would be smelling his fear.

“Ah, yeah no.” Stiles shook his head, “I think I’ll just stay here. You see I’ve already arranged for a pick up, and I wouldn’t want to stand them up.”

“You do realise that you don’t actually have a choice about coming with us. The only choice is how you come with us. First choice you come easily and we won’t hurt you; or second, and my personal favourite, you try to run and we hurt you,” The female wolf smirked, “a lot.”

“Now, now, Kali. I’m sure Stiles will be sensible and come easily.” The large werewolf leered at Stiles, who shuddered in disgust. The twin werewolves had been silent up until now, and when Stiles looked at them both were blank and expressionless. Stiles knew from his research that they were the weak point in the Alpha Pack and the newest, but on the other side of that coin he also knew that they, therefore, had more to prove in order to save their own skins.

“Yeah no.” Stiles shook his head, “I don’t think you guys really want that. I think you want to play hunt the human, and that’s a game I only play with my pack.” It was then that Stiles tossed the packet that he had fished out of his pocket and threw it as hard as he could at the feet of Kali, knowing that she was the most dangerous of the four werewolves. It exploded in a burst of purple dust and all four wolves jerked back with hisses. 

Stiles was thankful that he had taken some time precautions in case of something like this, and that the element of surprise had been on his side for once. He just hoped his pre-prepared wolfs bane bomb would buy him some time. As soon as the Alpha’s eyesight was obscured he immediately turned and ran as fast as he could for the main street. 

He knew that he wasn’t going to be able to escape, all four of the pursuing wolves were bigger, faster and stronger than him, but he hoped that by heading for the main street that there would be some witnesses to them grabbing him so that his dad and the Pack would know where to start looking. Having witnesses to his kidnapping would also mean that if there were dead bodies when he was rescued that the Pack would be covered, as violence could be justified if there was danger to the hostage. 

He managed to reach the street and yell out before a hand seized his hair and jerked him back. He screamed in pain as a small chunk of hair was pulled out due to the force of the pull, and just before the he was pulled out of sight by the violent hold, he made eye contact with Helen Harper, deputy Harper’s sister, who was already reaching for her phone after spotting Stiles being pulled away. He was relieved, she was probably one of the better people to have witnessed him being kidnapped, as she would immediately call her sister and alert the sheriff’s station. However he also desperately hoped that she wouldn’t be stupid enough to come after them as she was 6 months pregnant with her first child and Stiles wouldn’t be able to live with it if something happened to her or the baby.

He grunted, the air knocked out of him as Kali’s fist slammed into his stomach and he slumped onto his knees held up by her grip on his hair. One of the twins came approached the two of them and Stiles knew that he was in for a world of pain, as the dark glint in the young man’s eyes promised it. Another fist slammed into his stomach and he gagged at the force of the punch. Another fist slammed into his face, and Stiles cried out in pain as felt the direct impact to his cheekbone. He slumped to the ground as Kali’s hand released his hair, then he let out an agonised scream as she clawed him across his chest. He knew that her claws had cut him deeply because he could feel the solid line of his blood escaping from the open wounds. As he spiralled into unconsciousness his final thought was that he hoped it wasn’t deep enough to turn him.

* * * 

When Stiles woke, he was in a dark room and he was in a lot of pain. He gasped and suppressed a moan, trying to be as quiet as possible. He could feel Kali’s claw marks in his chest, and that they were no longer bleeding, but they weren’t healed. So two pieces of news; one good, he wasn’t a werewolf; and one bad, he had been unconscious for longer than he would have liked. 

The next thing he noticed was the pain in his shoulders, he wiggled his arms and gritted his teeth, trying to breathe through the pain. Shoulders were not made to be extended above their sockets for long periods of time and it was all he could do to stop himself from shrieking in pain. He pushed up onto his toes hoping to relieve the pressure on his shoulders and breathed deeply.

He managed to push his pain to the back of his mind, knowing that he had to take in as much as he could about his surroundings in order to make escape plans. Even though he knew the Pack and his father would be coming to rescue him, he wasn’t a damsel dammit, he could rescue himself. His eyes adjusted to the dark and he looked around himself. He was tied to a pillar in the centre of large empty room. He couldn’t see any windows, and only one door and Stiles was guessing that it was probably locked, because he knew that the Alpha Pack wouldn’t have the terrifying reputation that they had if they were that stupid. As he tilted his head up with a sigh, leaning as much of his weight as possible onto the beam behind him and noted the height of the roof and the exposed beams. 

Even as he tested the ropes around his wrists he was listening intently trying to see if he could hear anything that would identify where he was, it would do no good to escape and find himself lost and end up being recaptured. He couldn’t hear any cars or people nearby, so he didn’t think he was near a main road and he sighed, hearing nothing to give him any further clues. He couldn’t smell anything expect for old petrol and oil, but that didn’t help, he’d already guessed that he was in the industrial zone, it was the easiest place in Beacon Hills to remain hidden if you didn’t want to be found. Oh and blood, he could smell his blood, well hopefully it was only his blood.

He slumped down and tried to plan, but was distracted by the pain in his body, not only from the claw marks and from his arms, but from the bruises and scrapes that he could feel littering his body. He grimaced, unsurprised that the Alpha’s would have been rough when transporting him and tying him up. 

He stood up as straight again, trying to find a good balance between exhaustion and pain relief. Not long after that he heard the sounds of someone moving around in the room next to where he was being kept. It was only a moment until the door opened, the sound of it being unlocked only confirmed Stiles suspicions and he squinted as light poured into the dark room where he was. Slowly the form of a man came into focus and Stiles knew that it had to be Deucalion himself, the Demon Wolf and head of the Alpha Pack.

Stiles looked at the man, he moved confidently and without hesitation. Although he had a cane in hand, Stiles could tell that he wasn’t relying on it, almost like it was there for show. He was dressed well and, unlike both Kali and Ennis, you would walk past him on the street without blinking. As he stepped further into the room Stiles could see that his eyes were milky with scar tissue and knew that it was the cause of his blindness.

“So this is the human boy that seems to have enthralled the new Hale Alpha.” The English accent came across clearly and Stiles added it to his mental folder about the man. “You’re not that pretty.” Stiles froze, as the man grasped his head and tilted it from side to side, feeling like a piece of meat being judged for quality.

“I looked better before your Pack decided to attack me.” Even in hostage situations Stiles couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

Deucalion laughed softly, “I shall certainly scold them for that.” Stiles shuddered in his grip as he recognised the insanity in the man’s seemingly polite behaviour. “I would have preferred to mark you myself.” 

Stiles swallowed nervously, and opened his mouth, “There’s only two people I want to mark me, and you’re not one of them.” He blurted out.

“Ah yes the two Hales. A beta who was never supposed to be Alpha and a wolf who was an Alpha and died.” Deucalion tapped claws against Stiles chin harshly, “Now how did Peter Hale manage that little human? If you tell me I might even let you go.”

Stiles laughed slightly hysterically, “Like Peter would share a piece of knowledge like that without payment. And I can’t yet supply what he would ask for.” Stiles was bluffing of course, he had a pretty good idea of who Peter had bargained with to ensure his return to life.

Deucalion ran his claws over Stiles throat, and Stiles felt terror grip him, just a moment though as he knew it was far too early in the game for Deucalion to kill him. “Not a lie, little human. Yet I sense that you have a few guesses.” His claws moved away from Stiles throat, “I guess I’ll let Ennis play for a bit, and then I’ll ask again.”

Stiles couldn’t help the widening of his eyes, he really didn’t want Ennis to play with him. He’d seen the way the man’s eyes had sparkled with sadistic glee when Kali had clawed him when they had grabbed him. 

Deucalion glided from the room and Ennis entered striding up to Stiles and back handing him across the face. Stiles cried out, feeling his lip split and then cried out again as Ennis slammed a hand into Kali’s claw marks. He soon lost track of the strikes and punches, only knowing that it hurt and that he was screaming almost continuously. It felt like hours, but Ennis eventually drifted out as Stiles throat grew to hoarse to scream and he could barely twitch in response to the blows. 

Stiles hung limply against the pole, appearing to be unaware of the world around him. He heard Deucalion and Ennis leaving, with Ennis mentioning that Kali and the twins were securing their next living place as the two men left. The door to the warehouse closed behind them and Stiles knew it was now or never, and so he took a deep breath and shaped a blade of ice next to his wrists. The blade flashed and Stiles crumpled to the ground, his legs unable to hold his weight now that he was not supported by his wrists. However Stiles knew he had to keep moving and crawled to the door, celebrating at the fact that it opened easily. He knew he hadn’t heard Ennis re-lock it when he had left. Stiles pulled himself to his feet using the door frame and then staggered for the door to the outside, however much to his despair it proved to be locked. He looked around the main room of the warehouse for other possible ways to get out and spotted a window on the other side of the room. He took a steading breath and staggered drunkenly over to the window almost crying in relief as it proved to be unlocked. 

He yanked it open, then forced his exhausted body out of the window and let gravity assist in his slither out and down onto the concrete outside. He breathed slowly, forcing down the pain wrecking his body, then looked around him and recognising where he was. Thankfully he was only a few streets away from a road that was fairly busy and someone who could help him. He forced his body to take a painful step and then another and another, walking slowly and painfully down the road. He had only taken about a dozen steps before he heard the familiar sound of the Camaro’s engines and managed to croak out a barely coherent, “Help,” before he slid to the ground, the pain and exhaustion getting the better of him as he knew he would be safe now.

The Camaro screeched to a halt, and suddenly there were two pairs on hands gently turning him. He looked up to meet Peter’s and Derek’s terrified eyes and gave a tiny smile, “I knew you would find me.” Then his eyes rolled up at the sudden lack of pain in his body as they absorbed as much pain from him as they could.

* * * 

Stiles came back to awareness as Derek passed him gently to Peter, who was seated in the front seat of the Camaro. He moaned as the movement caused his pain to spike, Peter’s hands pressed against his chest as they settled him into Peter’s lap. 

“How long did they have me for?” Stiles managed to ask weakly.

“4 hours.” Peter replied, nuzzling at Stiles head as his hands steadily took Stiles’ pain. “They had you for 4 hours. Deputy Harper’s sister raised the alarm when she saw you being grabbed, but lost sight of you soon after. The Pack and the entire Sheriff’s department have been searching ever since, Chris’s men as well.”

“How did you find me?”

“Peter.” Derek grunted as he drove as quickly as he dared, but carefully in order to not hurt Stiles more than was unavoidable.

“Have you let my dad know that you found me?” Stiles asked as the Camaro pulled out onto the main road, but almost before he had finished asking flashing lights and sirens settled around the car, police cruisers pulling in front and behind of the Camaro escorting them so that Derek could get to the hospital faster. The journey passed quickly and it was only minutes before the Camaro smoothly halted in front of the emergency exit at the hospital. The passenger door was swiftly opened by waiting medical personal and Stiles’ transfer from the car to the gurney was smooth and swift. 

Stiles got a glimpse of his father’s face before the gurney started to move, and tried to smile at him, but instead grimaced as the gurney jolted as it went over a bump. His father’s familiar grip grasped his hand and Stiles relaxed in the knowledge that the three most important people in his world were alive and well as he dropped off into unconsciousness once again.

“Is he alright?” The sheriff demanded.

The doctor who was assessing Stiles barely looked up, “We’ll have to do a proper assessment Sheriff, but none of the injuries look anywhere near fatal at the moment.” He looked up as they approached a door, “But this is as far as you can go, you’ll have to remain here.”

The sheriff gave him a hard look, “My son has just managed to escape after being kidnapped. He will have a deputy with him for protection.”

“I’ll go with Stiles sir.” Deputy Harper spoke up. “Parrish can come with me.”

The doctor nodded in acceptance of this and the Sheriff dropped back as the hospital staff, Stiles and the deputies went through the door.

“How did you know where to find him?” He asked, swinging to look at the two werewolves who had found Stiles. His gaze dropped involuntarily to the blood stains that both of them had on their clothing.

“Instinct Sheriff.” Peter replied, his gaze focused in the direction that Stiles had been taken.

Derek elaborated, “Although a full mate bond hasn’t been formed between Peter and Stiles yet. The beginnings of one have been established and luckily for us one of the first things to develop is the ability to know roughly where your mate is. So we followed Peter’s instincts to Stiles, and found him not long after he had escaped.” Derek carried on his description and gave the location to the deputy standing behind the Sheriff knowing that they would be heading out to examine the scene for clues as to who the kidnappers were and see if they had left any clues as to where they would be heading to now. 

Peter was still focused on where Stiles was and was slowly calming as he could hear Stiles steady heartbeat even through the chaos of the hospital, “He climbed out of a window, I could see some glass shards on his clothing.” He spoke absently to the deputy taking notes.

The deputy nodded and then headed out to give directions to the rest of the Sheriff’s department, knowing that the Sheriff wouldn’t be in charge of this investigation. All three men could hear them heading out, leaving one deputy standing by the waiting room door to protect and guard the Sheriff, and also to relay any information they found to him. 

Chris Argent and the two hunters that had spent the most time with Stiles were the first to arrive at the hospital after word had gone out that Stiles had been found and they took up places guarding the Sheriff and wolves in the room. And minutes after their arrival the teenage members of the Pack arrived in a swirling, worried mass asking if anything was known about Stiles’ condition. When they heard that they were waiting for the doctor to come out they made sure to touch the Sheriff, Derek and Peter comfortingly before setting up in a pile of limbs to wait.

All heads rose as the doctor entered the room a long while later and taking in all the bodies in the room turned to the Sheriff and asked, “Sheriff Stilinski? Would you like to come with me and I’ll go over Stiles injuries?”

The Sheriff shook his head in denial, “They’re all going to find out anyway, just tell me here.” Peter was standing at his shoulder, and the Sheriff could feel the heat of his body. He was also aware of Derek who was standing just a little further away and noticed they relaxed as he made it clear that he would not be blocking them out.

“If you’re sure?” The doctor asked and Sheriff nodded resolutely. “Stiles has two broken ribs and three cracked ribs, a bruised kidney, a cracked cheekbone as well as a number of bruises. However the worst damage is a set of stab wounds on the right side of his chest that appear to have been made with some sort of clawed glove, we’ve cleaned them out and put in stitches and we’ll be keeping a close eye on them over the next few days to make sure they don’t get infected. He also has a concussion so we’ll be monitoring that to make sure that there is no long term damage. As we’ve been talking Stiles had been put into a private room, so you will be able to see him, but only three people at a time and then I’m afraid that all of you will need to go home.” Even as he was saying this he knew that at least the Sheriff would be refusing to leave and he suspected the two that still had blood stains on their shirts from bringing Stiles in would also refuse to leave. “I’ll have the nurses bring out some scrubs for you gentlemen to change into after you have seen Mr Stilinski.”

“No thanks,” Derek shook his head, “We’ve got clothes in the car that we can change into.”

The doctor nodded and then headed off, and a nurse stepped forward, “If you will all follow me I’ll show you where we’ve put Stiles and you can figure out the visiting order, just remember only for a few minutes at a time and three people at the maximum.”

They all trailed after her, except for one of Chris’ hunters who stepped forward and took Derek’s keys from him, so that he could fetch the clean clothing for Derek and Peter out of the car, as well as move it from its current place in front of the emergency entrance of the hospital. When they reached the room Stiles’ was in there was no argument about who would be seeing Stiles first. The Sheriff going in immediately, followed after a few minutes by Derek and Peter, who had delayed to give the man a little bit of time alone with his son.

Stiles was lying still on the bed, with a black eye, heavily bruised cheekbone and split lips the only injuries showing. When the wolves entered the room the sheriff had pulled up a chair and was sitting beside Stiles’ head. He was holding Stiles’ hand and staring at his son tears gleaming in his eyes. When Peter came in, he pressed a supportive hand on the man’s shoulder, then placed a light kiss on Stiles forehead and headed out to get changed, not liking how still the boy was. Derek also only stayed for a moment before rubbing a cheek lightly over Stiles’ hair scenting him, and heading out after his uncle. The rest of the Pack was quick to visit, Cora and Isaac first, then Erica and Boyd, and then Lydia, Jackson and Danny as a group, none staying long but the Sheriff could hear them settling down outside to wait in the corridor. Chris and his men popped in quickly, giving Stiles a quick look over before heading out, Chris murmuring that his men were going to keep looking for the Alpha Pack.

The Sheriff looked at his still son and a tear dropped from his eyes. He had been terrified when Deputy Harper’s sister had called to say that she had just seen Stiles being dragged off screaming by four people. The station had erupted as all the deputies had sprinted for their cars to get to the scene, as most of them had known Stiles since he was tiny. When they had got to the scene, the Sheriff being driven by Deputy Parrish, because he had been shaking too much to drive himself, it was to find the very pregnant Helen Harper directing a number of people off to search for Stiles. Her panicked phone call and screams had drawn plenty of attention and search groups had set off before the department had even managed to get out of the station. 

Helen had even appropriated a map from a cafe, and was using it to mark off areas that had been checked. He had noticed a lot of heavily armed men heading off and recognised them as a number of Chris Argent’s men, but he was almost too worried to concentrate. Helen remained in charge of directing the search groups, using her map and advice from Chris and Deputy Parrish, as they returned to get a new sector to search and he noticed the constant stream of fresh coffee that was being handed out to the volunteers. The Pack teenagers had arrived in a swirl of chaos and split up one going out with each of the volunteer groups, except for Lydia who joined the huddle at the map.

He was soon recovered enough to be sent out with one of the groups and was joined by Deputy Parrish. And it was with a stunned joy that he saw Derek’s Camaro with Peter holding Stiles in the front seat roaring out onto the road, Parrish immediately settled in front of the Camaro his lights on and escorted Derek to the hospital. The sheriff had been terrified by his glimpse at his son and it was only the fact that Stiles had been aware of him and had tried to smile at him that his heart had settled a little.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay.

A week after his kidnapping Stiles was feeling a lot better. Although that wasn’t much of a surprise, he had spent the last week on both pain killers and werewolf pain sucking thing, as well as a hefty dose of antibiotics after Kali’s claw marks had gotten infected. Luckily it had been picked up quickly by the werewolves and antibiotics were prescribed far sooner than they might otherwise have been. However when he looked in the mirror at himself, he thought he probably looked even worse than when he had first been brought in. His bruises had bloomed and were a disgusting mix of black, purple and green. His lip was slight swollen and the stitches were itching like mad, he had a wonderful black eye that stretched down and covered his right cheekbone, and his chest was absolutely terrifying to look at.

The morning after he had been admitted into the hospital he had given a statement to the Sheriff’s department. He had been able to give them an accurate description of Ennis, Kali and Deucalion, but hadn’t been able to give a good enough description of the twins, because he had barely seen them. So now the Alpha Pack had the entire Sheriff’s department looking for them. All police officers hate when a criminal targets the family of a police officer, it reminded them that it could have been their family member, so the entire department were baying for blood. The only lie he had told in his statement, except for the whole werewolf thing, had been that they hadn’t asked any him any questions or told him why they had targeted him. He had two reasons for this, firstly that it would have been hard for them to believe that his kidnappers had been demanding to know how Peter Hale had come back from the dead; and secondly Stiles had no desire for Peter to ever find out that he had been targeted because of him, as he knew if Peter found out then he would start drowning in the guilt of endangering his mate. However he had told both his father and Derek the truth after making sure that Peter was well out of ear shot, both had agreed with him on his reasoning. 

The sheriff had only asked Stiles once if he was sure about being part of the Pack, and had been totally unsurprised by Stiles’ reply that if course he was sure. His son’s loyalty to his friends was not a surprise to him at all. The Pack and Chris Argent and his hunters were dropping by regularly so that Stiles was never alone, but he was disgusted that Scott hadn’t visited once. When Melissa had arrived at work and seen Stiles in the state he was in she had hovered over him, fluffing his pillows and making sure he was comfortable, so the Sheriff was certain Scott knew that his best friend was in the hospital.

The Pack had never left Stiles alone, there was always at least one werewolf with him at all times. It was not unusual for the Sheriff to leave for food, coffee, or a shower and come back to find the werewolf had changed, they were always touching Stiles in some way. The Sheriff had noticed that Jackson was never around when Stiles was awake, but he had found Jackson sleeping by Stiles’ bed in the middle of the first night in the hospital, a hand wrapped securely around a sleeping Stiles’ ankle. However he had vanished by the time Stiles woke, because it would not do to show that he actually cared about Stiles. Isaac was happy to sit in the chair next to the bed and hold Stiles’ hand while they chatted, while Cora was most often found sitting on the end of the bed with their legs tangled comfortably in the middle of the bed. Both Derek and Peter often curled up with Stiles at night, although not when the Sheriff was in the room. The deputies on watch had reported it to the Sheriff, and he knew that they were expecting him to be angry, but he just didn’t have it in him. He had seen just how worried both of them had been when his son had been missing, their state’s hadn’t been that dissimilar to his own.

He had also noticed the steady stream of townsfolk going in and out of the room, many bringing food and cards for Stiles and it had really brought home exactly how many people in town cared about Stiles. He had also seen Chris Argent note how many people had acknowledged both Peter and Derek and realise just how integrated they were becoming in town, especially since the Sheriff was actively showing his support to both Hales in getting set up in town more permanently. He was supporting them not just because he knew that they were going to be a permanent part of Stiles life, but because he liked both of them, although he didn’t like them dating Stiles. Even if all three denied it.

Stiles had also noticed all the people coming in to check on him and had also noticed the lack of his best friend, it hurt a lot. In previous years you couldn’t pry Scott away from his bedside when he was in hospital, which hadn’t been uncommon, Stiles often hurt himself. So it was with surprise that he noticed Scott standing at his door, glaring at Cora who was sprawled out over the bottom of Stiles’ bed half lying on top of him.

“Hey Scott.”

“Stiles. I heard you were in the hospital. Who is this?” Scott’s voice was hostile and Stiles could feel the tension in Cora’s body.

“Oh yeah, you haven’t meet Cora officially yet. Scott this is Cora Hale, Cora this is Scott McCall.” Stiles was trying to be happy at Scott’s presence and ignore the werewolf posturing.

They nodded at each other, “I’ll go and grab a coffee.” Cora slid gracefully off the bed and paused to press a lingering kiss to Stiles cheek, “Do you want your usual?” She asked Stiles.

He shook his head, “Iced chocolate, please. The doctor told me no coffee.” He pouted and she laughed before sauntered to the door, exaggeratedly swinging her hips.

Stiles refocused on Scott, having watched her go. If she was making such an effort she deserved to be watched. Scott was glaring at the door where she had left.

“Why was she here?” He demanded turning back to Stiles, who frowned at him.

“Because she was keeping me company. Her and the rest of the Pack have made sure that at least one of them has been here since I was brought in.”

Scott scowled, “Why are you even here?”

Stiles gaped at him in shock, “Because I was kidnapped and beaten up by the Alpha Pack.”

“So it was their fault. If you had been with me they would never have touched you.”

Stiles felt his rage growing, “You think that I was hurt because I’m in the Pack.”

“Don’t be stupid Stiles.” Stiles felt a glimmer of hope, which was soon extinguished, “You’re human, humans can’t be part of a werewolf pack. They’re obviously keeping you around to research stuff for them, none of them are smart enough to do it themselves.”

Stiles couldn’t speak his rage was so intense. It was like Scott had forgotten everything Stiles’ had told him weeks ago.

“Deaton told me all about werewolf packs and how I can be an Alpha.” Scott’s voice was arrogant, something Stiles had never heard in his friend’s voice. Stiles saw movement at the door and meet the shocked eyes of Chris Argent.

“What are you talking about Scott?” He demanded as he strode into the room.

Scott grinned at Chris, obviously thinking that the man would be on his side. “Dr Deaton told me that if I believed and manage to get a pack to follow me then I would become an Alpha.”

Chris shook his head, “Scott there are only two ways to become an Alpha. Kill one, or inherit it.”

“Dr Deaton is a druid, he knows other ways.” Scott was almost childish in his denial.

“Alan Deaton is not a druid.” Chris stated, “He has been expelled from the Druidic Order for breaking his oaths.” Stiles was curious about how Chris knew that.

“Don’t be silly. Dr Deaton explained that it is all a misunderstanding, that he didn’t break any oaths, he told me that he had separated himself from Derek. That he thinks he’s dangerous.” Stiles was gaping in surprise at Scott, at his total acceptance of Deaton’s explanation.

“Of course Derek is dangerous, he’s an Alpha werewolf.” Chris exclaimed. “All werewolves are dangerous, but Derek is reasonably safe.” He continued grudgingly.

“He had blue eyes.” Scott replied as if this would counter Chris’ statement.

“He had blue eyes because his girlfriend died in his arms.” Stiles yelled.

“See he obviously killed her.” Stiles lost it at Scott’s statement and tried to lunge at him, yelling abuse. Cora moved like lightning to stop him from where she had been standing just out of sight, and used her body to hold him in the bed while he spat abuse at Scott and angrily tried to attack him. 

After Cora had secured Stiles, Chris turned to Scott, “Get out Scott.” His voice was flat and his gun was in his hand.

“Why should I? Stiles is obviously upset at Derek and I can calm him down, better than her anyway.” He spat in the direction of Cora, who turned her head fangs obvious and eyes swirling with gold, as she held Stiles down.

“He’s not upset at Derek. I presume by his anger that he actually knows what happened between Derek and his girlfriend. So it’s time for you to leave Scott.” Chris’ voice was dark and Scott looked at the man he was startled by the cold anger in his voice.

“We’ll escort Mr McCall out, sir.” Scott spun to see two armed men staring at him coldly, with two armed deputies just behind them. The one who had spoken carefully reached out and grasped Scott’s arm, tugging him out of the room harshly. 

Once he was out of the room, Deputy Harper stepped forward into Scott’s space, “Mr McCall, I don’t think you should come back. In fact I don’t think you should even make any contact with Mr Stilinski until you are ready to apologise for your behaviour.” Scott opened his mouth to protest, “And I suggest you do your research yourself, rather than relying on a man who is a known Oathbreaker.” Scott was tugged down the hall, “And just so you know, it was the two Hale men who found your so-called best friend crawling away after escaping from his captors and then stayed all night to make sure that he would be okay, unlike you who is visiting for the first time after a week.”

* * * * *

Stiles’ father watched with amusement as his son wiggled trying to escape the helping hands of his werewolves. Both Derek and Peter were trying to assist Stiles to exit Derek’s cayenne, which they had decided would be the easiest for Stiles to get in and out of. Stiles was flailing and flapping his hands, while both wolves were effortlessly avoiding them, all the while gently steadying him as he wobbled.

The sheriff unlocked and then opened the door for Stiles to go through Peter hovering close behind, while Derek pouted and carried Stiles’ hospital bag. He followed them into the house and could hear Stiles arguing with Peter in the living room, even as Derek disappeared up the stairs with the bag.

“Anyone want a drink?” He called out as he wandered into the kitchen.

“Yes please.” Derek answered from directly behind him, causing him to spin around and eye him with a narrow gaze, “A coffee if that’s alright?” Derek continued politely.

“I want a coffee please dad, and Peter wants one of those disgusting teas he stashed in the cupboard.” Stiles hollered from the living room.

The sheriff opened the cupboard that he kept the coffee in and found that, yes, at some point Peter Hale had stashed fruit tea in the cupboard. He pulled out a tea bag and turned to grab some mugs, only to find that Derek had placed four mugs on the bench in front of him and was in the process of filling up the jug. 

He dropped the tea bag into the black mug labelled super-villain and took in the other mugs. One was his favourite mug, a dark blue one with a cartoon dog with bulging eyes on it, Stiles’ mug was one of the Avengers set that he had gotten for Christmas and much to his surprise the final one was a bright pink with a cute kitten on it.

“It was Cora’s.” Derek gruffly explained. The Sheriff only nodded and decided that he shouldn’t ask.

“Peter’s?”

“Stiles.”

They finished making the drinks and then moved into the living room, where Stiles was lying on the couch, his feet resting in Peter’s lap, looking tired. Although he was not as bruised as he should have been, Mrs Harper had marched into his room on the second day of his stay at the hospital and started smothering him in a herbal cream, that she had insisted was the perfect thing for healing bruises. The members of the Pack had been laughing like hyenas as Stiles had protested and tried to get away as she had efficiently stripped him and rubbed the cream into all the bruises he had, including the one’s on his ass. Then almost as quickly as she had arrived she had placed a container of the cream on the bedside table, told Peter to reapply it in three hours, and vanished again.

And Peter had followed her instructions, and the bruises had healed far more rapidly than they would have without the cream. The doctor when he had seen the container of cream had nodded and told them that it was an excellent recipe and that he had been trying to get it for years, but Mrs Harper was steadfast in her refusal, and tended to deliver it personally to the patients who needed it the most.

The Sheriff watched as Stiles sleepily drunk his coffee, then snuggled further into the blanket that he had been wrapped up in. He turned on the TV and switched the channel to an ice hockey match and the four of them settled in to watch the game. When the game was over Stiles was fast asleep, with Peter almost absently massaging his feet.

“So what time are the rest of the Pack arriving?” The sheriff asked as he stood.

Derek looked slightly guilty, and checked his watch, “In about half an hour.”

The Sheriff rolled his eyes at the guilt, “Look son, if I didn’t want the Pack in my house I wouldn’t have given them keys and told them they were welcome at any time.” He stood, knowing that it was almost dinner time and that his house was soon going to be full of teenagers with empty stomachs. “I guess I better go order pizza then.”

“I can pay, Sheriff.” Derek reached for his wallet.

The sheriff thought that he should probably explain something to Derek and Peter, “There’s no need.” Derek opened his mouth to protest. “Derek has it ever seemed like we have money problems?”

“No sir.” Derek looked confused, but Peter looked like he was remembering something.

“That’s because although we don’t show it, both Stiles and I have more money than we could possibly spend in our lifetime.” The sheriff was blunt.

“You inherited it from Claudia.” Peter murmured.

The Sheriff nodded, “Claudia was the only child in a very old, very wealthy family and all the money now belongs to us.” He grimaced, “We also own so much land it’s ridiculous, but it’s all being looked after by a trust, because I’m not interested in managing it and Stiles is young and still has to decide to do with his life.”

The sheriff looked at Peter and the gleam of interest in his eyes, knowing that Peter had managed the money and land for the Hale family before the fire, “And I actually wanted to talk to you about the Hale estate, but after I call for pizza otherwise the Pack will descend and eat me out of home.” 

Peter and Derek nodded and watched slightly confused as the Sheriff called in a massive pizza order. “So what exactly about the Hale Estate did you want to talk about Sheriff?” Peter asked lightly.

“Derek, did you and Laura ever get a chance to discuss the family finances?” The sheriff looked rather uncomfortable at asking.

Derek shook his head, “Laura took care of the money, and I haven’t had a chance to look into it since she died.”

Peter rolled his eyes at Derek’s unsurprising answer, “As soon as I came back I had a look. I suppose it’s you I have to thank for managing the main estate while I was in the coma?” 

Derek looked bewildered. “Main Estate?”

“Laura never actually took control of the Family finances.” Peter replied gently, “The two of you lived off her trust fund.”

“Oh.” Derek still looked confused.

“So while Peter was in the coma and the two of you had disappeared,” The sheriff grimaced, “It fell to the executors of your parent’s wills to take control of the Estate.” 

Derek looked stunned, as he and Laura had vanished before the will was read. “I didn’t know.”

“I know.” The sheriff patted him on the shoulder comfortingly, “I was one of the potential guardians that your parents had listed, so when the two of you vanished the other listed guardians and I talked, and I was elected to become the main caretaker of the estate, with an annual review done by all of us. The main thing I wanted to discuss was the Family Home, it still belongs to the Estate, but the city council has scheduled it for demolition as it is a health and safety hazard. So the two of you and Cora need to have a discussion about whether to contest the demolition or let it go ahead.”

Both Hales looked conflicted and the Sheriff was glad that it was at that point that the front door slammed open and Erica flounced into the room, followed closely by Boyd, Isaac and Cora.

“Greetings Alpha, Peter, Stiles and Stiles’ dad.” She announced and it was at that point the wolves realised that Stiles was awake, the Sheriff had noticed as soon as his son had awakened.

Cora came over to the couch and wiggled her way behind Stiles so that his upper body was leaning on her. “So how are the bruises Stiles?”

Before he could answer his stomach growled and everyone snorted in laughter, which was only interrupted by the doorbell ringing. 

“That would be the pizza.” The sheriff spoke and Erica was off like a shot.

“I’m so hungry.” She shouted as she ran for the door, and the soon to be terrified delivery boy.

* * * * * 

Stiles had managed to escape from his house with Cora escorting him. He had been trapped in the house for the last few days and had been going stir-crazy, enough that Cora had agreed to take him out for lunch. He knew that she had told Derek, Peter and his dad where they were going, but Stiles was practising if I can’t see them, they aren’t there way of thought and so was pretending that the two of them had managed to escape.

Cora had borrowed the Camaro and had picked him up from the house.

“So where do you want to eat Stiles?” Cora asked not looking away from the road as she headed for town.

“Honestly I feel like Thai.” Stiles admitted.

“Ohh that sounds good, where’s the best place for that in Beacon Hills?” Cora agreed in delight. “I haven’t had good Thai in ages.”

“Lucky Palace on Main St, about a block north of the Sheriff’s station.”

“Sweet.” Cora headed for Main Street. Cora had turned on the radio quietly and the two of them were quietly singing along.

“So Cora, did Derek, or Peter I suppose, get you all enrolled at school for this year?”

Cora pulled a face, “Yes Derek and your dad got it all set up. I’m enrolled in the same year as you.”

“Really? I thought you were 16?” Stiles asked curiously.

“I am, but I passed all my placement tests so they stuck me into your year.” Cora quickly looked at Stiles.

“Just ask Cora.” Stiles knew she wanted to ask something.

“How come you’re not a senior this year? I thought it was your 18th birthday coming up.”

“It is. You know my mother died when I was nine right?”

“Yeah Peter said something about that.”

“Well after she died I went a bit off the rails and ended up missing half a year, so the next year I repeated the year again.” Stiles explained.

“But you could have jumped up again, couldn’t you?” Cora asked as she parked the car.

“Yeah, but I was finally in the same year as Scott and I liked that, so I didn’t ask.” Cora nodded. They climbed out of the car and headed for the restaurant. Before they could get more than a few steps, a man came rushing up.

“Oh Stiles, I heard that you got grabbed.” A tall man came up to them, and gently grabbed his face, turning it to have a look at the damage. “Are you alright?” He asked. Cora was glaring at the man, she didn’t know him and didn’t like it when strangers touched her Pack.

Stiles reached up and gently pulled the man’s hands away from his face, “Hi George. I’m alright now, they didn’t do nearly as much damage as they could have. I managed to escape.”

“Of course you did. You’re a very resourceful young man. Did they catch them?” 

Stiles shook his head, “No but most of the town is looking out for them and I’ve got people keeping an eye on me.”

The man turned to look at the glaring Cora, “I’m guessing this is one of them?”

“Yep, George this is Cora, Cora this is George. She not the only one though, there’s at least two others following us at the moment.”

“Good, I’d hate to lose you. Come by the club sometime, the girls are missing you.”

“Will do George.” The man gave him a quick hug and then strode off. Cora glared after him, then turned to look at Stiles demandingly. “Sorry Cora, I met George at Jungle the last time I was there.”

“Isn’t that the gay club?” She asked as they headed into the restaurant.

“Yeah, I met him and some others when we went to try to stop the kanima.”

Cora looked startled, “He’s a drag queen?” She asked quietly, managing to stop herself from turning and looking at the man again. He was not what she had expected of a drag queen, he had looked like any other businessman on the street, nothing hinted at his extracurricular hobbies.

“Yeah, but how do you know about that?” he asked curiously as the waiter escorted them to an empty table.

“Peter was highly amused that a group of drag queens had adopted you as their pet.” Stiles couldn’t do anything but shrug, as it was correct they had adopted him as a pet. “He and Derek have been telling me stories, trying to get me to like you.”

“Did they have to try hard?”

Cora laughed, “Not really, you’ve been nothing but good since you guys rescued us, and both Erica and Boyd talked about you and how you would be one of the people that would come to rescue us. It helped that you didn’t flinch the first time you saw me.”

Stiles frowned in confusion, “Why would I have flinched?”

“Because I was shifted.”

“Of course you were, the situation called for it.”

The waiter interrupted their conversation to get their orders and both of them reeled off what they wanted, without any hesitations. 

Cora picked up their conversation as soon as the man left, “I don’t know that many humans would react that way.”

Stiles shrugged, “I’m special.”

Cora leered at him, “So I hear.” Then she frowned a little, “From both my uncle and my brother.” Her head tilted in thought, “That’s still kind of weird you know.”

Stiles studied her seriously, “Does it bother you?”

Cora looked at her fingers thinking deeply, Stiles left her to it and gratefully accepted his drink as the waiter dropped them off, “I remember what Derek was like after Paige, you know.” She looked up with sad eyes, “I may have been only 10, but I knew that something had broken inside of him. I didn’t think he would ever be happy again, and then the fire happened and I thought everyone was dead. Then to see him and uncle Peter both happy again was more than I could have ever expected, so no it doesn’t bother me, it’s just little weird to see two family members both banging the same person.”

“I’m not banging anyone at the moment.” Stiles pouted at her, “Not until I’m 18 anyway.”

“You may not be banging them but you’re definitely doing something with them, the loft gave that away.”

Stiles blushed a little, “Sorry.”

“Eh, we’re werewolves, we are kind of used to knowing more than we want to about our families.”

The food arrived not long after that and both of them dug in. They both moaned around the food and muttered comments about how good it was. The table was comfortably quiet, both of them happily eating and exchanging the occasional comment while they ate their fill. Stiles finished long before Cora and watched contentedly as she cleaned her plate and then finished off his. While she was doing that Stiles placed a takeaway order, knowing that the wolves and his dad would happily eat it at home. When Cora had finished they got up and Stiles paid the bill, while Cora collected the takeaway order.

They wandered out of the restaurant and headed for the car, but Stiles abruptly stopped as he spotted a dark haired girl heading towards them.

“Stiles, hi.” She sounded hesitant.

“Alison. I didn’t know you were back.” Stiles sounded alright but Cora picked up his unease and dislike and shifted the food to one hand and linked her arm through his.

“Who is this honey?” She asked her tone sweet.

“Sorry sweetheart, Cora this is Alison Argent, Alison this is Cora.” Stiles was quick to pick up Cora’s cue. “Alison goes to school with us and she’s dating Scott.”

Cora couldn’t restrain a glimmer of dislike at the mention of Scott, “Oh, well. It’s nice to meet you Alison, I guess I’ll see you at school.” And with that she deftly pulled Stiles away.

“Bye Alison.” He called over his shoulder, as they reached the car.

Once the two of them were in the car and driving away, Cora asked hesitantly, “So that was Alison Argent?” Stiles nodded. “And we don’t like her?”

“I don’t and I’m pretty sure the rest of the Pack, except for Lydia, Jackson and Danny, don’t either considering she has shot all of them with arrows or knives.”

Cora nodded, “I get that.”

Stiles looked at her and then confided, “She reminds me too much of her aunt Kate for me to ever trust or like her, no matter how nice she seems on the surface.” He looked out the window and mused lowly, “I just hope that she never reaches the point where she thinks it is alright to burn a house full of people to the ground.”

* * * * * 

Stiles was curled up in his bed with Cora and the two of them were watching firefly on Stiles’ laptop. Cora had never seen it because when she had been in South America they hadn’t watched much TV, as there was always other things to do. Stiles and Erica had been raving about it a few days ago at the loft, and when she had said she’d never heard of it, Stiles had immediately said that they should watch it together sometime. So tonight when everyone else had been out doing things and she hadn’t felt like being alone, she had called Stiles who had immediately invited her over.

They were a few episodes in and Cora had to admit that Stiles and Erica had been right, it was pretty awesome. And the surprisingly still and calm presence of Stiles was comforting, she had missed having a close knit pack so just relaxing with a pack-mate was something she treasured. She loved her uncle and brother, but there was still something between them that made it weird to spend relaxing time with them. She thought it was probably because they hadn’t really had a chance for the three of them to sit down and bond since she had been rescued, because there was always something going on. However for some reason she had instantly clicked with Stiles and a strong bond had formed between them.

So they were comfortably snuggled under the covers in Stiles’ bed watching an episode, with a bag of chips between them when the Sheriff arrived home.

“That better not be Peter or Derek up there Stiles.” Stiles jumped in surprise, he obviously hadn’t heard the man come in. While Stiles tried to regain his composure, Cora laughed quietly at him and the Sheriff stomped up the stairs.

“Dad.” Stiles protested, “I’m allowed to have friends over.” He yelled back.

The Sheriff dramatically threw open the door obviously hoping to catch her brother or uncle, “Hi Sheriff,” Cora piped up, “Wrong Hale.”

“Cora,” the man smiled at her pleased, “Nice to see you.”

“It’s alright that I’m here isn’t it, I was lonely at home.”

“Of course it’s alright.” The man smiled at her.

“I can’t believe you don’t trust Derek and Peter.” Stiles whined petulantly at his father’s behaviour.

“Son, it’s not them I don’t trust, it’s you.” Stiles pouted at his father’s matter of fact tone.

“Rude.”

“Remember the two of you do have to sleep.” He said pointedly, as he pulled the door closed behind him, “Good night.”

“So he doesn’t trust you with Derek and Peter?” Cora asked quietly as she listened to the Sheriff heading back down the stairs.

“I think he thinks I’ll manipulate them into having sex.”

“Not that it would take much manipulation.” Cora snarked having been exposed to their behaviour often enough.

“You’re right about Peter, but there is no way I could manipulate Derek.” Stiles shrugged, “But it doesn’t matter, I’m not having sex until I’m eighteen so Peter will have to wait.”

“Good,” her smiled was toothy, “I’d hate having to hurt you if you pushed Derek.”

Stiles snorted at her threat, well aware that she was being truthful, but also aware that both of them knew it was unnecessary.

* * * * *

“Good you’re here Peter, I need your help.” Stiles called as soon as Peter came through the front door. Peter followed Stiles’ voice and scent into the living room and took in the sight. There was paper and books everywhere and Stiles had a pen in hand and was moving chaotically around the room scrawling notes on different pieces of paper. However the longer Peter looked the more order he could see, eventually he stepped cautiously into the room.  
“Wards?”

“Yes.” Stiles sounded a little manic, “I was reading a book last night and it gave me an idea, so I’ve been testing today and I’m pretty sure I’ve managed to create some wards that will exclude non-Pack werewolves.” Peter gaped at him, he’d never heard of such a thing, all the wards he had heard of could either block all werewolves, or none.

“Who did you test it on?” He asked cautiously.

“Isaac was here earlier and I trapped him in the backyard.” Stiles looked a little sheepish.

“And how did you figure out how to release him.”

“Oh, well once I had trapped him I was thinking that those wards wouldn’t be very helpful if none of the Pack could come into the house, so I well,” Stiles paused trying to come up with the right words, “Tweaked them I guess. Aunt Natalia said that Sparks use their power by will power so I just tweaked them until Isaac could come into the house.”

“How do you know they block non-Pack wolves?”

Stiles looked really sheepish now, “I may have warded the jeep when Isaac left to go pick up Scott to go and practice lacrosse. According to Isaac Scott couldn’t even touch the jeep until he broke the wards.”

Peter nodded, “It was a good test, but will the wards be able to be broken by anyone?”

Stile shook his head, “No I’m going to lock them down so that only authorised people can break or modify them.”

“How?” Peter asked curiously, because the only way he’s ever heard of doing that was using blood.

“Blood.” Stiles held out a knife and vial to Peter hopefully.

“Do you want me to draw your blood?” Peter asked.

“No.” Stiles gestured behind him at the table, where Peter noticed three vials of blood already lying there. “I need your blood to add you to the wards.”

Peter was startled, he didn’t think that Stiles trusted him that much, but at Stiles impatient gesture, he cut his finger with the knife and filled the vial, and once it was full handed it to Stiles. 

“I’m adding myself, dad, you and Derek to the wards.” Stiles commented as he picked up the other vials and headed for the kitchen with Peter following close behind.

In the kitchen there was a pot on the stove that was steaming slightly. Stiles went up to the pot and stirred it, “I’ve made up some ink that I’m going to use to draw the symbols for the wards. I just needed your blood to finish it.” Stiles reached for the first vial, and uncorked it. Peter could smell that it was Stiles’ and he watched with interest as Stiles poured the blood into the ink. He could hear the Stiles was saying something, but his brain couldn’t translate it, and he watched silently with great interest as there was a puff of glittery amber smoke as the blood hit the ink. 

When the Sheriff’s blood was added a curl of gold smoke rose, Derek’s got a jet of blood red smoke and his blood caused a somewhat ominous oozing black cloud.

Stiles stopped speaking and shook his head to clear the fog in his mind. He looked at the ink, which was spectacular to look at.

“Peter, come and have a look.” Peter immediately pressed against his back and peered into the pot.

“Oh.” He sounded awed, “It’s like the night’s sky.” The ink was the colour of the blackest of nights, with shimmering specks of light appearing and disappearing in it.

Stiles hummed in agreement. Then nudged Peter back to grab his supplies, “A brush of freely given unicorn hair, to encourage peace, health and trust.” The brush didn’t look any different to a normal paintbrush, except for the cutely drawn cartoon unicorn on the handle, “And a spray bottle of sealant to protect the symbols.”

“What’s in the sealant?” Peter asked.

“Paint varnish.” Stiles grinned at him cheekily. “Not everything has to be magical Peter.”

Peter flashed a grin back, “So was it just my blood you need?”

“Nope.” Stiles handed him the sealant, then turned back to the pot and poured a scoop of ink into a glass jar. “I’ll need you to carry the sealant and the ink for me.” He handed the ink to Peter, who carefully took it in his grip. “Think protective thoughts.”

Peter nodded and then followed Stiles who over the course of the next hour painted a number of symbols all over the Stilinski home both inside and outside around the boundaries of the property. Peter watched with fascination as Stiles painted the symbols, whispering unhearable words and then moved on, leaving Peter to gently spray the varnish over the symbols which glimmered and sparkled with magic.

When Stiles was done he drifted towards the kitchen, and began to tie the wards together. Peter could feel the magic building and weaving together as Stiles worked, until suddenly there was a flash of light. When Peter could see again Stiles was wavering on his feet and he quickly but carefully placed the ink and the varnish on the table before stabilising Stiles. They both stared at the crystal statue that had formed in the centre of the table, it was an exact replica of the Stilinski home, including the yards that shimmered with magic.

“I guess that’s the heart of the wards?” Stiles commented.

“I would think so.” Peter replied calmly, “The heart of the Hale wards was a lump of quartz, so I guess congratulations on your wards.” Stiles nodded and they stared for a while longer.

At least until there was a thump and an indignant cry. “Hey. Why can’t I get into the house.”   
Stiles and Peter started laughing and then moved for the front door to let Erica in.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

The morning of the first day of school Stiles was woken by the piercing sound of his alarm going off, he flailed with an arm to try and turn it off to the protests of his bed mate. 

“Cora?” He asked blearily, she definitely hadn’t been in his bed last night when he had gone to sleep.

“Shut up.” She muttered before curling back into the covers so that all that was visible was her dark hair. He blinked at her confused and was still staring when he father banged on his door and then peered in.

“Stiles?” He sounded confused, “Who’s in the bed with you?”

“Cora?” Stiles wasn’t particularly coherent, and all that could be heard from Cora was a threatening growl. 

The Sheriff ended up shrugging, “You both need to up and ready to go in about an hour.” He called as he wandered away. Stiles crawled from the bed and staggered over to grab some clean clothes to wear to school, ignoring the growling from the bed and staggered down the hall to the bathroom.

He enjoyed the shower and was feeling a lot more awake afterwards. He dressed and brushed his teeth before heading back to his room. Cora was sitting on the bed, dressed in a black skirt and t-shirt and looked almost ready to go. They moved past each other, her heading for the bathroom and him to dump his pyjamas and grab his bag. He noticed Cora’s bag and grabbed that heading downstairs.

“Morning dad.” He greeted and grabbed a couple of pieces of toast.

“Morning son. When did Cora get here?” He asked curiously.

Stiles shrugged, “I knew she was there when you woke us up. So some time during the night I guess.” They both looked upwards as they heard a thump and swearing, then listened as footsteps headed for the stairs and down. When Cora entered the kitchen a scowl on her face, Stiles wordlessly handed her a piece of buttered toast, which she took with a brief smile.

“I hate the first day of school.” She complained.

“I rather like it normally.” Stiles countered, “New things to learn, I get to see my friends and new stationary.” He grinned manically, he loved getting new stationary.

Cora snorted, “You already know almost everything they’re going to teach us and you’ll probably see less of us in school than you did during the holidays. However I will give you the stationary, I like getting nice, new pens.”

The sheriff laughed at her bluntness, “She could be right son, you might see less of the Pack now that you’re back in school. Are you both all set for school?”

They both nodded, “Lunch?” They nodded again, “Paper and pens?” more nodding. “And some sort of protection?” Cora popped claws, and Stiles flicked his hand open and a little ice spike grew out of his palm. “Good. Now I don’t want to get any phone calls from the school for at least a week.” He narrowed his eyes at his son, he’d been called on the first day last year, because Stiles and Jackson had got into a fight. Both of them nodded, “Okay, off you go. Enjoy your day.”

“Bye dad.” Stiles bounced up and gave his dad a quick hug, before heading for the door.

Cora got the her feet, then hesitantly and incredibly briefly embraced the Sheriff before dashing after Stiles.

“So why were you in my bed this morning?” Stiles asked once they were on their way to school in his jeep.

Cora shrugged, “I don’t know. I couldn’t sleep last night so I went for a run, and ended up at your house. And since you had left your window open I just came up.”

“So why did you have your school bag with you?” He asked.

“I didn’t. From the scent on it Peter dropped it off at some point when we were sleeping.” Stiles didn’t know if it was a good thing or not that he managed to sleep through two werewolves entering his room, but then shrugged internally deciding that it didn’t really matter as they were both Pack. 

It wasn’t long before Stiles was pulling the jeep into the parking lot and spotting the Camaro, he pulled in next to it. He and Cora climbed out and were met by Isaac who bounced out of the passenger seat of the Camaro and Derek who got out of the driver’s side. Isaac gave them both quick hugs and scented them, and then he and Stiles watched as Derek gave Cora a hug and whispered something in her ear.

“He’s wishing her luck.” Isaac commented quietly to Stiles, who nodded having guessed that it was along those lines.

After the Hales broke their hug, Derek looked at Stiles. Who was feeling a little mischievous, and leapt across the gap between them to wrap his arms around Derek’s neck, and his legs around Derek’s waist. Derek automatically grabbed his hips and steadied him.

“Good morning Derek.” He chirped. Derek rolled his eyes at Stiles’ behaviour, but didn’t loosen his grip. 

“Ohhhh, group hug.” Cried Erica as she ran up and impacted with Stile’s back causing him to squeak as she crushed him between her and Derek. Stiles slithered to the ground as soon as she released him and smiled at Boyd who had followed Erica over to them. 

The bell rang and Derek smirked at them, “Have fun at school, kiddies.”

All five of them exchanged looks before simultaneously poking their tongues out at him and then dashing into school.

* * * * *

Stiles was looking at the clock on the front wall of the chemistry classroom, trying to ignore Mr Harris who was being especially vicious to Stiles in class today. He suspected that the man was trying to feel better about himself by picking on the Sheriff’s son, in revenge for having been taken in for questioning about his involvement in the Hale fire. Stiles was ignoring him, deciding that he didn’t want detention on his first day. Cora who had taken the seat next to him was glaring fiercely at the man, who was flinching every time she caught his eye.

When they were finally released Cora took his arm and looped it over her shoulder. Scott who was in the class, but seated on the other side of the room behind Alison, had been firing confused eyes at both Stiles and Cora for the entire lesson. He had taken Deputy Harper’s words to heart and had approached Stiles, but still hadn’t figured out what he had to apologise for. Alison had also been looking at the two of them and had looked very startled when Cora had been identified as a Hale and at one point had tried to ask Lydia, who was sitting next to her, about Cora, but Lydia had ignored her listening to Mr Harris.

Stiles left the room as quickly as he could, his arm still looped over Cora’s shoulder.

“I really don’t like that man.” He commented as soon as they were out of hearing range.

“So get Uncle Peter to take care of him.” Cora sounded indifferent to the fact that she had just suggested the maiming if not death of one of her teachers. 

Stiles snorted with laughter, “Nah I’m saving Peter until Mr Harris really annoys me.”

They entered the cafeteria and Stiles moved his arm so that both of them could grab a tray. They had shared most of their classes and Stiles hadn’t asked but suspected that Danny had had a hand in it, and they shared their lunch period with the rest of the Pack. They filled their trays up and after looking around to find that no one else was here yet they headed for a large empty table in one of the corners. They sat down next to each other and both started eating.

“So why are you pretending we are dating?” Stiles asked casually.

“I don’t want to date anyone and you’re doing something with Peter and Derek.” Cora replied matter-of-factly.

“True I suppose. But I’m not going to look like a very good person once I turn eighteen and start publicly doing something with Peter, dumping my poor girlfriend for her uncle.”

“And her brother.” Cora sounded amused. “Don’t worry Stiles, I’ll dump you loudly and publicly just before your birthday.”

“I had wondered how you were going to solve that problem.” Isaac commented as he slid into a seat on the opposite side of the table from them. “I’ve heard all sorts of people wondering how Stiles managed to land such a hot girlfriend.”

“He’s special.” Erica replied with a smirk as she sat next to Isaac, nudging him down a seat so that Boyd could sit on her other side. Boyd nodded at Stiles and Erica.

“That’s right I am special.” Stiles agreed with a smirk, “I’m special enough to have slept with all three Hales.”

“I didn’t want to know that Stilinski.” Jackson commented as he passed them.

“Sure you did, Whittemore.” Stiles yelled back, ignoring the stares his yell generated.

When he looked back at the others at the table he was surprised to notice glares on Erica and Isaac’s faces. “Guys if we weren’t throwing taunts at each other they would wonder what I had on him.” 

Cora hadn’t reacted to Jackson’s comment as she was glaring at Alison who was sitting at a table across the room that Jackson had just joined. Boyd was stoically ignoring them all and just eating his lunch.

“He didn’t need to be such a jerk.” Erica commented.

“Huh? Actually that was really mild, you do remember the fight on the first day of school last year right?” Stiles asked pointedly. The fight had been rather epic, had ended with both of them bruised, battered and bleeding and with two weeks of detention.

“Oh right. I’d forgotten about that.” Isaac spoke, somewhat sheepishly.

“So why did Cora come with you this morning Stiles?” Boyd spoke for the first time.

“I stayed there last night.” Her answer was short and sweet.

“Why?” Erica asked curiously.

“So we could have wild and dirty sex.” Cora’s comment was perfectly timed and Scott who had been passing their table not far away, stumbled and managed to take out a group of freshmen, causing food to fly everywhere and shouts to erupt. Stiles and the other’s watched with amusement as chaos reigned for at least 5 minutes as people yelled and tried to clean up. Stiles gave Cora a subtle high five and then a quick kiss on the lips, that caused Scott to stumble again and slam into the table this time.

The warning bell rang and they quickly cleared their table heading off to class, this time Stiles was accompanied by Boyd to their Spanish class.  
 


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Stiles was hanging upside down from a tree, watching with interest as Derek was trying to train his betas. Cora had escaped training and was hanging next to Stiles, giving a soft commentary.

“Ohh, and Boyd takes a hit.” Boyd slammed into a tree across the clearing after trying to jump Derek from behind, Erica following quickly as she growled and leapt at Derek trying to take him down. Derek slammed a fist into her face and Stiles flinched as he heard the crack of her nose breaking. “That had to hurt.” Cora hissed, “And Isaac steps up to the plate.” They both watched in interest as Isaac moved smoothly towards Derek, feinting and then clawing Derek’s side. He spun away from Derek’s lunge and dropped to the ground sliding underneath him and managing to score a hit against Derek’s stomach, however his strategy of hit and run was only successful for a little time before Derek used his superior speed to slam him into the ground and pin him. Isaac whined and exposed his neck in submission to his Alpha, who accepted and then released him.

“Right so you have all improved a lot. Isaac, that was an excellent strategy, but you have to be flexible in your attack and learn how to conceal your intentions, either Cora or Peter will be able to work on that with you. Erica, Boyd if you want to fight as a team, you’re going to need to practise your co-ordination. You were both fighting as individuals, rather than as a team, we’ll work on that. But I think that’s enough for today.” Derek was calm and confident and Stiles was glad to see that he had listened to Peter’s suggestion of tempering his feedback with praise. The betas all piled together looking exhausted and Derek strolled over to Stiles and Cora’s tree, taking a seat at its base.

“Cora, it’s your turn.” Cora dropped effortlessly from the tree, landing in a crouch. Stiles applauded and Cora bowed at him. Peter rolled his eyes and then gestured for Cora to come at him. Cora grinned sharply, flashing fangs, before lunging at her uncle. Peter gracefully stepped to the side, dodging her effortlessly and slammed a foot into her side. Cora flew across the clearing in a similar way to Boyd, but she landed on her feet and back flipped back into the clearing, still grinning. The two of them moved around the clearing in a graceful, deadly dance.   
Stiles dropped from the tree, his landing not nearly as graceful as Cora’s, but did manage to land on his feet. Well for a moment before he wobbled and fell onto Derek in a pile of flailing limbs. Both Cora and Peter paused in their spar to laugh at the grunt Derek let out as Stiles hit him, and Stiles’ continued flailing. The betas were all laughing as well. They eventually managed to untangle themselves and Stiles was left sitting pouting on the ground at all of the werewolves. 

“I hate you all.” He crossed his arms. Then he grinned dangerously, “You know, I have an idea.” The wolves looked a little apprehensive, “I think it should be everyone versus Peter.” 

The betas grinned, but both Cora and Derek looked a little nervous, “Oh that sounds like fun.” Peter smirked at them, “But if you don’t think you can take me Derek, we could always give it a miss.”

Derek knew he was being baited, but couldn’t resist the challenge. And the betas were suddenly looking a little nervous at Peter’s confidence. Cora just grimaced. Stiles was enjoying this, he knew perfectly well that Peter far outclassed all of them, he had to in order to be Talia Hale’s enforcer. Talia had been the Alpha of the strongest Pack in north America, so her enforcers had to be brutally effective at their jobs and Peter had been her enforcer since he was 19.

Cora was the first to move and it was a vicious attack, but unsuccessful as Peter moved like lightning and dodged throwing her into Isaac, so that both crumpled to the ground. Then Stiles just watched with a certain amount of amusement and some arousal as Peter proceed to deliver a beat down on all of them, until Derek was the only one left standing. The others were scattered around the clearing in piles of groaning, bleeding and broken werewolves, Cora was the only who was unconscious as she had been absolutely vicious and that had been the only way Peter could take her out of the fight. Derek was standing, blood staining his torn shirt and glowing red eyes glinting dangerously and then he moved and Stiles flinched as he went down, the sounds of bones cracking obvious. Peter was left standing with only a few specks of blood on him, and Stiles guessed it was mostly from the other wolves.

“So now that I’ve defeated them, what is my reward Stiles.” Peter leered as he swaggered over to Stiles. 

Stiles tilted his head and looked at Peter through his lashes, “And what does my champion want?” He sounded coy. Peter stepped forward and then jerked to a stop and looked down.  
Stiles cackled at his expression as he took in the circle of mountain ash around him. Peter glared at him, “I did say everyone versus you.” 

Derek and the newly awakened Cora burst into laughter and Stiles moved around to help them stand.

Not long afterwards, whenever one was healed and recovered and Peter was still trapped in the mountain ash circle, the rest of the Pack was sprawled around the clearing.

“So how did you learn to fight like that?” Isaac asked Peter cautiously.

Peter sat in his circle, glaring intently at Stiles, but still answered, “My father, Derek’s grandfather, taught me and all my siblings to fight. I was the best at it, so he then sent me off to learn off some of the best enforcer’s in the world. I was Talia’s second and her lead enforcer by the time I was 21, and Talia controlled the strongest Pack in North America.” Peter trailed off, and looked at Derek sadness in his eyes, “I was in the process of training Derek to be Laura’s second, when the fire happened.”

Cora shifted from her curl around her brother to look at her uncle with serious eyes, “Laura was never going to be able to lead the Pack like mum did, was she.” It was more a statement than question.

Peter looked at Derek and hesitantly opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Derek, “No.” His voice was flat, “She wasn’t hard enough.”

Stiles giggled and the betas looked at him horrified that he would laugh at such a serious time. But Stiles was looking up at the tiny squirrel that was in the tree above Peter, it was tiny and glaring at Peter. Obviously Stiles had managed to trap Peter where it wanted to go. Stiles waved a hand and the circle around Peter broke and Peter stood and moved away with relish, Stiles however crawled closer to the squirrel and the Pack watched with amusement as he managed to lure the squirrel to him. Eventually he turned to face them the squirrel sitting happily in his hand. Derek and Cora were staring at him, startled that he had managed to get a wild squirrel to sit so calmly in his hand. 

However Isaac started inching towards Stiles, he loved squirrels. He froze when the squirrel looked at him and seemed to glare, but eventually the squirrel looked away and he inched closer. This process went on for a number of minutes but soon he was pressed up next to Stiles and coxing the squirrel into his own hand, once Isaac had taken possession of the squirrel Stiles moved away and over to the pouting Peter. Cora and Derek were having a quiet chat and Erica and Boyd were snuggling underneath a tree. Stiles as soon as he got in range was yanked into Peter’s arms and hugged tightly.

“So how early could you have taken me out in that fight?” He asked quietly nuzzling Stiles neck as he wrapped himself around Stiles, so that he was pressed tightly against Stiles’ back and his arms were wrapped tightly around Stiles’ waist.

Stiles smiled, amusement barely hidden, “The fight wouldn’t have even started.”

Peter turned him and they were facing each other, “Did you think it was hot that I was winning?” 

“Oh god, uncle Peter I don’t want to hear you flirting with your boy toy.” Cora cried out.

Peter leered at her, Stiles twisting to look at her. “Should I be flirting with you then dear niece?”  
Stiles cackled at the disgusted expression on not only her face, but Erica and Boyd’s as well. Peter nibbled lightly on his neck, holding their gazes and Stiles moaned exaggeratedly. Derek rolled his eyes and wandered over to where Isaac was cooing at the squirrel, oblivious to what was happening, the squirrel ignored Derek’s approach only giving him a quick glare as he distracted Isaac from his petting and cooing.

Peter rocked up and pressed himself against Stiles, still looking at the three young wolves. His hand dropped and caressed Stiles just above his belt, Stiles arched into his hold and moaned wantonly. Boyd grimaced and wandered away heading for Derek, Isaac and the squirrel. Erica and Cora just grinned at the show Peter and Stiles were putting on. 

Peter started to suck lightly on Stiles neck who could feel himself start to harden in his pants, and when Peter’s hand dropped to cup and caress his cock, he stopped caring that there was other people watching and moaned in delight. He twisted his head, captured Peter’s lips with his and they kissed passionately, Peter’s hand dipping into Stiles pants and cupping his cock, full contact only blocked by Stiles’ underwear. He stroked it and Stiles shuddered and turned to face Peter so he could kiss him properly.

“Alright. We give. Stop please.” Erica’s voice broke their kiss and Stiles pouted as Peter pulled away.

“Don’t play games you don’t want to lose, sweetheart.” Peter leered before wrapping an arm over Stiles shoulder and leading him over to Derek. “Is it time to head back, oh glorious leader?” He asked and Derek nodded, so Peter led Stiles off out of the clearing. 

They were almost out of hearing range when he heard Erica say to Derek, “Derek, your uncle is kind of scary.” Peter pulled Stiles to a halt, wanting to hear Derek’s response.

But it was Cora that spoke, “There’s no kind of about it, Uncle Peter is terrifying.”

“But only if you are an enemy.” Derek added, “He’s only moderately terrifying to the Pack.”

“I don’t know how Stiles can like him.” Erica commented.

“Because he’s also terrifying.” Derek replied calmly.

“Stiles?” Boyd asked.

“Terrifying.” Isaac agreed.

* * * * *

Peter escorted Stiles home, well more correctly he climbed into the passenger seat of the jeep and Stiles didn’t make him get out. And then he followed Stiles into the house, and into the kitchen.

“Well that was fun.” Stiles commented as he grabbed a glass and filled it with water.

“I definitely enjoyed myself.” Peter smirked at Stiles, who rolled his eyes.

“Psycho.” He commented fondly.

“Although Isaac does think you are terrifying.” Peter moved so he was pressed against Stiles’ side.

“Isaac has a lot of experience at recognising danger in people.” Stiles put his glass down and then wandered away heading for his room. Peter followed closely behind him. Stiles grabbed his laptop and lay down on his stomach on his bed, Peter climbing on so he was lying next to Stiles. 

“His father?”

“Among others.” Stiles had been privy to the reports to the Sheriff’s office for years and knew a lot more about what happened in town than anyone could guess, but also knew better than to talk about the specifics. Peter hummed absorbing the knowledge but dropping the subject.

“So Stiles,” he drawled and Stiles tensed a little, “Did you like showing off for the Pack?”

Stiles rolled so that they were both lying on their sides facing each other. “I enjoyed you touching me.” He shrugged, “I didn’t really care that Cora and Erica were watching.”

Peter laughed, “But you enjoy it when Derek is watching.”

“Yeah but that’s because he also wants to be touching me, but won’t.” Stiles leaned forward and kissed Peter lightly, “Unlike you, my creepy, pervert wolf.”

Peter shifted forward and kissed Stiles again. When he pulled back Stiles’ eyes were glazed with lust and he was panting, “You’re right precious, I would destroy you. I would have you begging and pleading for me to fuck you. I would have you impaled on my cock, bleeding and crying out for me to fuck you harder.” 

Stiles moaned and pushed Peter onto his back, shifting so that he was straddling Peter so he could rock his cock against Peter’s. “Would you hurt me? Would you make me scream?” Peter reached up and pulled Stiles down to kiss him. Stiles could feel the sharp points of Peter’s claws on the back of his neck, and moaned into the kiss, the knowledge that it was only Peter’s restraint that kept him from injury. 

The kiss was violent in its intensity, Peter’s other hand came up and cupped Stiles ass, and he could feel claw points in the tight grasp. He pressed back into the hard grasp and moaned when he felt the claws cut his skin, the pain ramping up his pleasure. Peter released his mouth to bite at Stiles’ neck and Stiles arched into the bite, moaning again as he felt Peter’s fangs pressing into his skin. 

Peter’s hand fell from his neck and he dragged his claws down Stiles back to pull Stiles hips down to meet his bucking hips. Stiles’ ground down onto Peter’s cock and moaned at the rock hard cock that was pressing against his own. He writhed on top of Peter, causing Peter’s claws and fangs to dig into his skin and draw blood. Peter pulled back his mouth from Stiles neck and kissed him hard before lowering his mouth back to Stiles’ neck and it was the feeling of Peter’s tongue lapping up his blood that caused Stiles to cry out and violently orgasm against Peter. 

He immediately rolled them so that Stiles’ shuddering and limp body was underneath him and rocked roughly against Stiles’ hips until he came with a grunt and flopped down limply on top of Stiles.

“I haven’t come this many times in my pants since I was 14.” Peter laughed as he rolled off Stiles and pulled the still limp form of Stiles against him, spooning him.

“Sadly since I met you and Derek it’s become quite common for me.” Stiles snarked sleepily, snuggling into the werewolves arms, and soon dropping off to sleep.

* * * * * 

It was a Wednesday a few weeks into the school year when Allison approached Stiles in the hallway at school.

“Can we talk?” She asked quietly. Her demeanour was subdued and apologetic, but Stiles found it hard to care. He didn’t like Allison and he didn’t think that there was much she could say to change his mind. After the events of the last year he thought that she was weak and easily manipulated both those around her, and Stiles didn’t want to be forever worrying about the trustworthiness of those around him. He calmly closed his locker and turned to look at her. He could see Cora, Erica and Boyd in the hallway at their own lockers and knew that they would all be listening.

“How can I help you Allison?” Stiles asked blandly, knowing that he should be polite as it was likely that they would be interacting in the future and not wanting their future relationship to be awkward or angry.

“I want to apologise for my behaviour last year.” Stiles knew she was sincere, but did wonder how encompassing her apologies would be. He knew that her father had sent her away for counselling about the events of last year, but he suspected that it had been a pro-hunting counsellor.

“Have you apologised to Erica or Boyd for shooting them?” His voice was calm, but pointed.

Allison’s eyes widened as if she had been expecting him to accept her apology without any questions. “No, I haven’t had the chance yet.”

“Lie.” Stiles stated flatly, holding her gaze, as the son of the Sheriff he had a lot of experience at recognising lies. “I think it’s probably more that it hadn’t occurred to you, as they healed completely and therefore no real damage was done.”

He watched as a glimmer of rage flickered in her eyes, but was quickly smothered, “Of course I will apologise to them. But right now I am apologising to you, will you accept?”

“First I want you to tell me exactly what you are apologising for.” Stiles crossed his arms over his chest, his amber eyes hard. He could see that she was sorry, but he wasn’t going to accept a blanket apology. He wanted to see if she truly knew the extent of the damage she had caused. 

Cora was drifting closer as the conversation went on, her movement unnoticed by Allison. Stiles could also see Scott, Lydia, Jackson and Danny coming down the hall towards them.

“I’m apologising because you got hurt.” Allison was trying to keep her voice calm.

“So you are apologising to me because I got hurt?” She nodded a slight smile growing on her face, “Was this when your grandfather kidnapped me and beat me up, or when your father slammed me into a wall?”

Her eyes went hard, “Both I guess.”

“Or when you went on violent rampage and injured our schoolmates?” 

“If you don’t want my apologies, just say so.” She spoke through gritted teeth as her anger got the better of her. Stiles heard the bell go and watched the rest of the students head off to class out of the corner of his eyes, but knew that they had to finish this conversation.

“Alison, if I thought you actually understood what you were apologising for, and were apologising for your actions and not those of your family members, I would happily accept your apology. However I don’t think that you really understand what your actions caused and who you hurt, so right at this minute unfortunately I won’t be accepting your apology.” Stiles was firm, but cold.

“I do understand what I’m apologising for. Stiles, I’m apologising to you because my actions last year led to you getting hurt, to you having to lie to your father about what happened.”

“Alison I got hurt because your grandfather was a psychopathic old man who saw me as the weakest member of the Pack, as an easy way of sending a message, it had nothing to do with you. Nor did my choice to lie to my father have anything to do with you. Nothing you did last year impacted me personally, however your actions negatively affected almost everyone I care about. You should be apologising to them and not me.”

“Like who?” She demanded.

“Derek, Erica, Boyd, Isaac and Scott.”

Something cold flashed in her eyes, “I’m not going to apologise to monsters that killed my family.”

“Are you referring to your mother?” Stiles asked, a hint of cruelty and ice in his voice. “Who died because she was trying to kill a teenage boy, whose only mistake was daring to fall in love with you? Or your grandfather who tortured and was going to kill your classmates? Or your loving Aunt Kate?”

“My mother would never have done that. Derek attacked her.”

“There’s where you are wrong, sweetheart.” Cora and the betas looked at each other, Stiles sounded remarkably like Peter at the moment. “She decided to kill Scott using wolfs bane in aerosol form so that it would look like an asthma attack. And when Derek went to save his life she was bitten in the confusion. But do you know the worst part about her death?” Cora flinched at the maliciousness in his voice, “She chose to leave you, she chose to kill herself.” 

Alison flinched backwards, “Better to kill yourself than become a monster.” She recovered snarling.

“Careful there Alison, you’re sounding a bit like your Auntie Kate.” Stiles smirked cruelly, “She thought the same thing and it enabled her to rape a 16 year old boy and then kill almost his entire family, while making sure that he would survive to maximise his suffering.”

Alison’s mouth dropped open in shock, obviously she hadn’t put together everything about the Hale fire and her aunt’s involvement. 

Stiles continued to drive the point home, “What about dear old grandpa. You knew that he wasn’t a nice guy, you helped us to try and figure out his plans, and yet you still helped to capture two of your classmates and turned them over to him. You had to know that whatever he was planning to do to them wasn’t going to be pleasant and yet you still helped him. So Alison maybe rather than apologising to the fellow human, you should be looking at yourself and what led you to make the choices you did.” 

Throughout Stiles’ words Alison’s eyes had filled with tears, and as she opened her mouth to argue, she couldn’t as her throat closed and the tears spilled down her face. She spun and took off down the hallway sobbing, with Scott and Lydia taking off after her.

“Bilinski,” Coach Finstock’s voice echoed in the hallway, “What did you do to make that girl cry?”

“Sorry coach. Just telling her some things she didn’t want to hear.” Stiles shrugged at the man standing with hands on hips staring at him.

“Get to class all of you. And Bilinski, no more making girls cry, it messes up my day.”

Stiles nodded and headed off, joined by the other Pack members in the hallway, including Jackson, who much to Stiles’ surprise patted him gently on the shoulder and murmured quietly just before they went into class, “She had to be told.”

* * * * *

Stiles drove Cora and himself to the preserve, so that they could go jogging on one of the trails together. He parked the jeep in the car park and the two of them headed into the preserve at a light jog. Stiles liked jogging, he had started during the summer as a way of increasing his fitness. He was normally accompanied by at least one of the werewolves in the Pack, so having Cora jogging with him wasn’t a new thing, but Stiles had the distinct feeling that Cora wanted to have a serious conversation with him.

“So Stiles,” Cora started in a casual tone after they had been jogging for about five minutes, “What’s going on with you, Peter and Derek?” 

Stiles keep up a steady pace and tried to come up with an answer that didn’t revolve around sex. “Peter is flirting with me.” He settled on eventually.

“And Derek?”

“He’s lonely. And I like him.” Stiles tilted his head to look quickly at her, “He misses Paige, he misses physical contact and he misses being safe I think.” They jogged on in silence for a while, before Cora spoke again.

“Why do you think he doesn’t feel safe?”

“He’s the Alpha now. He grew up underneath your mother, who is known for having been a very strong and wise Alpha, then Laura, who managed to keep the two of them safe after the fire, then she managed to carve out a territory for the two of them away from Beacon Hills. Now he’s the Alpha and it’s his job to keep everyone safe, and he does that but he’s not used to it. He sometimes needs time when people aren’t relying on him to keep them safe, and he can get that with Peter and I.”

Cora made a distressed noise at the thought of causing him stress, “But I don’t expect him to keep me completely safe, I expect that as a Pack we work together to keep everyone safe.”

“Under his leadership.” Stiles replied, then stopped jogging, waiting for Cora to stop and face him, before he stepped up to her and gently cupped her face in his hands, “And that’s alright Cora, that is the role of Alpha. What I meant is that Derek knows exactly how dangerous Peter is and he trusts me to do whatever it takes to keep both him and the Pack safe.” He hugged her and then started jogging again, “Remember last time he saw you, you were a little girl, a cute little innocent girl, not the badass werewolf you are now.”

Cora couldn’t help but laugh at Stiles’ comment and he grinned at her, pleased that she was calmer now.

“You still haven’t really answered my question about what the three of you are up to.” She commented pointedly after they had jogged in comfortable silence for another 15 minutes.

“Damn, I was hoping you’d forgotten.” Stiles snarked.

“No chance Stilinski. Spill.” Cora demanded laughing.

“Fine,” Stiles pouted, “Peter is courting me. He’s teasing me with information, he’s seducing me and occasionally providing for me.”

“And Derek?”

“Is mostly watching.” Cora pulled a disgusted face, “You asked.” Stiles shrugged with a laugh. “But nothing physical has really happened, and it won’t until I’m 18.”

“I’m guessing that was your idea, Peter has never really been the law abiding type.” Cora sounded amused and absolutely certain.

“Yup, but he hasn’t pushed.”

“So you’re serious then, about accepting his courtship?” She asked hesitantly.

Stiles smiled softly at her, “It’s really only a matter of time until I take the mating bond. I want to be in college at least before I end up married.”

“Good.” They continued jogging and were soon heading back to the jeep. “What will happen with Derek once yours and Peter’s bond is finalised?”

Stiles unlocked the jeep and tossed his water bottle onto the seat and turned to face her, “I don’t think anything will change. Derek doesn’t threaten mine and Peter’s relationship, and he never will because of Paige.”

Cora nodded in acceptance, a sad look growing in her eyes, “I know, it’s the worst thing that can happen to a wolf.”

Stiles slung an arm over her shoulder, “Come on, I feel like curly fries and a milkshake,” He waved a credit card, “Peter’s treat.”

Cora laughed and they got into the jeep and headed off for burgers.

* * * * *

Sheriff Stilinski was sitting at his desk staring at a pile of cold cases. Ever since his son had explained about the supernatural he had been going over old unsolved cases with an eye to see if they had any supernatural elements that could led to them being solved. One case in particular had caught his attention.

Five years ago there had been a car crash with three victims, a mother and two female children. There were three things that he thought might be supernatural. The first was why had the car crashed, it had been a calm day, no rain or other weather phenomena that could have been responsible, the mother hadn’t been drinking, and when the deputies had investigated there didn’t seem to be a reason for the crash at all. The second was that only two bodies had been recovered from the car, the body of the youngest child had not been found and the third reason was the coyote tracks that were all through and around the crash site.

So now he was wondering if he could get the Hales to have a look at the case file and see if they had any suggestions. 

There was a knock on his door and he waved Tara into his office, “What can I do for you Deputy?”

Tara looked surprisingly hesitant, “Sir.” She paused and looked rather uncomfortable, “I’m not sure if I should be the one to tell you this but,” she ran a hand over her belt, “I was at the supermarket last night and I saw Stiles there.”

She trailed off and worried by her strange behaviour, he prompted her, “Stiles was there?”

“Well he wasn’t alone, sir.” She took a deep breath, “he was with Derek Hale.” 

The Sheriff nodded calmly much to her obvious surprise, “Yes I know, they were doing some shopping for the BBQ that Stiles is hosting at our place this weekend.”

“Well Sir, they looked, um…” She cleared her throat, “Rather close.” The sheriff’s eyebrow rose, prompting her for more information.

“Is Stiles dating Derek Hale?” She finally asked bluntly.

The sheriff’s head flopped into his hands at the question, “I don’t know, and I don’t want to.” He wasn’t surprised that she had been nervous to bring this up, after all Derek was in his early twenties and Stiles was seventeen. “However I’m sure that if Stiles and Derek Hale are dating, nothing sexual will happen until after Stiles turns eighteen.”

Tara nodded in acceptance of the Sheriff’s statement, she knew Derek’s history with Kate. “As long as you are aware that something is going on or could be going on that’s alright. I’ll see you later Sheriff.” The sheriff nodded at her and she left closing the door after her and the Sheriff went back to his files.

It was about half an hour later and there was another knock on the door, “Sir?” Deputy Parrish stuck his head into the office.

“Come in Parrish. How can I help?”

“I just wanted to ask a question sir.” Parrish sounded nervous.

“Of course, have a seat son.” The Sheriff closed the file he was looking at and gestured at the seat across his desk.

Deputy Parrish took the seat, perching on the edge. “Well sir, it’s not exactly about work, but I thought I should ask.”

The sheriff just hoped it wasn’t about his son, but had the sinking feeling that it was, “Go ahead son.”

“Is Stiles dating anyone?”

The sheriff’s eyebrow rose, “Are you asking because you’re interested in my son?”

“What, no.” Parrish spluttered, “He’s far too young for me, and not really my type. Not that he isn’t attractive but…”

“I’ll cut you off there, son, before you explode.” Parrish had blushed a deep red colour.

“As far as I am aware Stiles is not dating anyone, however I know that he is interested in someone.” The sheriff answered Parrish’s question.

“Oh good, I was kind of nervous to tell you that I found him in his jeep with a young lady that identified herself as Cora Hale.”

The Sheriff was curious, “Why do you think I need to know this Parrish?”

Parrish whose blush had started to fade, flushed red again, “Neither of them were wearing tops sir. Stiles claimed that they had got mud on them when they were out jogging.” The sheriff nodded, this seemed reasonable to him, “But when Stiles showed me his shirt it had some tear marks in it, that looked like they had been made by fingernails.”

“Oh,” The sheriff was frantically trying to think of an explanation, however he was interrupted by Tara knocking on the door.

“Sir, are you finished with Parrish? I want to take him out to Mrs Judson’s.”

The sheriff rolled his eyes, “What does she want now?”

“Some punk kids are destroying the neighbour’s lawn.” Tara sounded amused, “I thought I should introduce Parrish to her.”

“The Potter triplets?” Tara nodded at his clarification. “Take him, have fun Parrish.” Parrish looked a little nervous because of the amusement that both of them were showing. And the Sheriff was relieved that he didn’t have to talk about his son’s potential love life.

* * * * *

“Is Stiles banging Peter Hale?” Deputy Harper’s blunt question made the sheriff spit his coffee out across the break room.

He scowled at her, “You did that on purpose.”

“Of course not sir.” She sounded like innocence personified. 

He pointed a finger at her, “I’ve known you since you were 5, that doesn’t work on me.”

She smirked at him, “It might have been slightly on purpose. So is he?”

“No.” The sheriff glared darkly at the thought, “He better not be, he promised he would wait until he was eighteen.” The sheriff brightened, “But on the other hand if they are having sex, I can shoot Peter.”

Deputy Harper laughed, “Well I didn’t see them having sex, but I saw the two of them eating at Gina’s looking fairly cosy.”

“I can cope with cosy, I don’t want to have to cope with sex.”

The deputy patted him consolingly on the shoulder, “Unfortunately sir, I’m not sure you’re going to have much of a choice.”

He could hear her amusement, “I don’t like you, go away.”

* * * * *

“Dad.” Stiles greeted cheerfully as he bounced into the station, carrying a bag of food for the Sheriff’s dinner.

“Isaac.” The sheriff greeted Isaac, who had followed Stiles into the station in a much quieter manner.

“Sheriff,” Isaac smiled slightly.

“Dad.” Stiles whined, “Stop ignoring me.” He shook the bag temptingly, “I brought food.”

“Salad?” The sheriff asked despairingly.

“Actually it’s a cheeseburger and curly fries.” The sheriff snatched the bag from Stiles’ hand.

“What did you do?” He asked suspiciously.

“Nothing. How could you accuse me of doing something? Me, your loving and perfect son.” The Sheriff snorted, as did Isaac and all the deputies within hearing range. Stiles dramatically swirled around glaring at them all. “I just want to stay at the loft for the next couple of nights.”

“You want me to let you stay at Derek Hale’s loft?”

Stiles rolled his eyes at his father’s tone, “It’s not like Derek and I will be the only ones there. It’s going to be all the Hales, Isaac, Erica, Boyd, Danny, Lydia and Jackson.” He pulled a face at the last name, Jackson may be part of the Pack, but he and Stiles still didn’t really like each other.

“Fine, but I want regular texts to let me know that you are okay.” 

Stiles grinned brightly. “Thanks dad. Enjoy your cheeseburger, it’s the only one you are allowed for the rest of the week.”

“Horrible child.” The sheriff called after Stiles who had slung an arm around Isaac waist and was dragging him from the station.

The sheriff looked up from the bag of food he had been looking into and at the curious eyes and whispers of various deputies around the room who were watching as Stiles and Isaac left the station. “No Stiles is not dating Isaac Lahey.” He glared at the gossiping deputies and then walked into his office, closing the door firmly behind him. 

He ignored the resulting laughter from his deputies at his put out tone.  
 


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Stiles was sprawled on the floor at the loft concentrating on a small pile of dust. He was trying to make a small controlled whirlwind, using the dust as a visual aid. Peter was sitting on the couch behind him, offering him the occasional piece of sarcastic advice. The rest of the Pack hanging around in the loft either enthusiastically playing PlayStation games or in the kitchen cooking, for the dinner the entire Pack was having that night.

Stiles looked at the dust and visualised it twisting and turning in a whirlwind, and whooped when the pile rose and started to swirl gently in a spiral. He watched it spinning and curiously wondered if he could change the direction, and grinned when the dust swirled wildly for a moment and then settle into a counter clockwise spin. He giggled quietly causing a few of the Pack to look over at him, while Peter moved down onto the floor next to him. 

He flicked a mischievous glance over at Peter, then looked back at the dust and concentrated until the dust formed a roughly catlike shape which then stalked towards the betas playing the PlayStation. Peter watched a smirk growing on his face as the dust cat stalked over to Cora and tapped her thigh with a paw. Cora looked down and yelped in surprise, springing to her feet in shock. Stiles lost control of the dust cat as both he and Peter collapsed into cackles.

Cora growled and stalked over to them, “I didn’t think Uncle Peter was contagious, but he seems to have spread his evil to you Stiles.”

“Please Cora,” Stiles gasped out between cackles, “I was evil enough before I meet Peter.”

“Too true.” Erica called out from the couch, the PlayStation game having been paused so that her, Isaac and Boyd could watch Cora and Stiles. “I still remember what you did to Jackson when we were 6.”

“Evil Stilinski.” Jackson called from the kitchen, “That was why I didn’t like you for years.”

“Does that mean you like me now Jackson?” Stiles called back cooing.

“Hell no, I tolerate you now.” Jackson voice carried a sneer. 

Stiles laughed, “Love you too Jackson.”

He refocused on Cora who was standing over him tapping a foot, “How did you do that Stiles?” She demanded.

“Magic.” Stiles wiggled his fingers mysteriously.

Cora rolled her eyes, “No duh. I meant what sort of magic?”

“Air manipulation. I used air to hold the dust into the shape I wanted.” His face grew a focused look and he held out a hand, the betas watching fascinated as the dust rose and drifted over to Stiles, he poked his tongue out of the side of his mouth as he concentrated. And slowly the dust formed into a rose, which he handed to Cora. He panted a little, “I don’t know how long it will stay like that, but hopefully at least for an hour.”

Cora grinned at him, “Oh a rose Stiles, how romantic.” Her sarcasm was strong.

“Bitch.” Stiles countered fondly. 

Cora smirked and headed back to the couch, “No more attacking me Stiles, you won’t like the consequences.”

Stiles turned back and looked at Peter, “Do you have any ideas of something else I could practise?”

Peter frowned in thought, “Your main talent is ice right? But you can use other elements?”

Stiles nodded, “Yup.” His aunt had told him that while Ice and Spirit magic would always be the easiest for him to use, he could use other elements with practise. He was currently focused on Air manipulation, as Fire and Earth didn’t really hold much attraction to him at the moment.

“Have you tried forming illusions?” Stiles thought back to when he had showed Paige what Peter and Derek looked like now, and nodded. “What type of illusion was it? Visual?” Stiles nodded again, “Was there anything else associated with it, like a scent?”

“No, it was just visual like a photo.”

“Can you show me?” Peter sounded curious.

Stiles focused and soon there was a small image of Peter standing in front of them. Peter grinned at Stiles and shifted so that he was lying lightly pressed up against Stiles side, then he looked at the image and reached out to poke the image. He finger went straight through.  
“Do you think you could make it solid?”

“Maybe?” Stiles sounded dubious, but tried anyway. Peter reached out and lightly poked it again. He felt some resistance, but the image vanished abruptly and when he looked at Stiles, he noticed the sweat glowing on his face.

“I felt some resistance, so that’s something you could work on.” Stiles was breathing heavily, “But I think maybe not now.”

Stiles nodded, “That seems like a good idea. Aunt Natalia said that I would get tired quickly when I first start using magic, but that effect would lessen the more I practised.”

“That’s true of everything I have learnt over the years as well.” Peter was calmly running a hand through Stiles hair. “What have you done with your spirit gifts?”

Stiles shrugged, “I accidentally talked to a dead girl.”

Peter laughed, “Really? Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. Do you have any idea of the limits of your gift?”

“Not really, it’s just a matter of trying something and seeing if it works.” Stiles sounded unconcerned.

“Have you found anything that hasn’t worked?” Peter’s curiosity was aroused.

“I can’t resurrect the dead.” Stiles frowned in contemplation, “At least not yet.”

Peter looked at him seriously, “You do know that raising the dead has serious consequences.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, “Of course. Nature requires balance and/or payment. Was your price worth it?” He eyes were dark with knowledge.

Peter was silent as he studied the young man by his side and then he nodded gravely, “Yes. It was worth it.”

* * * * *

“You mentioned Pack magic a while ago. What exactly were you talking about?” Stiles asked curiously as they were lying in Peter’s bed that night.

Peter rolled onto his back and looked up at the ceiling. “Werewolves have quite a few magic’s that are unique to us as a species, and a number that are special to each Pack, especially one like the Hale Pack that has been a continuous Pack for generations.” 

Stiles turned on his side and studied Peter who looked decidedly sad. “In every generation the Hale Pack has a holder of the Pack Magic’s, I was Talia’s Holder as well as her chief enforcer.”

“How does the Holder get chosen?” Stiles asked quietly.

“It’s normally fairly obvious which of the children in the Pack have Alpha potential, so the previous Holder’s in the family select a few of the children in the Pack that have Alpha potential, but are unlikely to be the Alpha and start teaching them some of the minor Pack Magic’s and it becomes fairly clear who has the talent and the desire to become a Holder. I was the only one in my generation.”

Stiles nodded at Peter’s words, “So what sort of magic did you learn?” He paused for moment thinking, “And who is Derek’s Holder?”

“I guess I’m Derek’s Holder at the moment by default, being the only Hale Holder that is still alive.” Peter sounded contemplative. “I learnt the Pack rituals for bonding, the naming of new pups, things like that. I also learnt how to feel the Pack bonds.”

“What do they feel like to you, to me they feel like bubble-gum.”

Peter turned his head to look at Stiles, “Bubble-gum?” He sounded incredulous.

“Yeah, stretchy, strong and sticky.”

“How is bubble-gum strong?”

“Do you know how much you have to stretch bubble-gum before it breaks, it just stretches more and more.” Stiles said enthusiastically.

“I suppose.” Peter still sounded dubious. “They feel like warmth to me, it used to be the warmth of a fire, but you know…”

“Being burned alive changed that.” Stiles snuggled into him, trying to provide comfort.

“Yes Stiles, being burned alive changed how they feel to me, now it’s more like the warmth of the sun.” Peter’s voice was wry.

“How do you feel them, like their connection to you, or Derek as the Alpha, or to each other?” Stiles was curious, he could feel his bonds to the other members of the Pack, but not their bonds to each other.

“I can feel their bonds to me, if Derek formally accepts me as his Holder I’ll be able to feel their bonds to him as Alpha, but I won’t be able to sense bonds between other Pack members.” Peter pulled a face, “Nor do I want to.”

“Why not?” Stiles asked in curiosity.

“Do you know how many bonds form within a Pack?”

“I was thinking Mate Bonds and the Bond to the Alpha were the main ones.” Peter nodded in encouragement, “But I hadn’t really considered other bonds, I guess between parents and children?” Peter nodded, “Between siblings?” He nodded again, “I can’t really think of any others.” Stiles shrugged.

“You are thinking about permanent bonds, however there are a number of temporary bonds that form. You get romantic bonds, friendship bonds, anger bonds and those are just a few.”

“Okay I understand why you wouldn’t want to feel the bonds between the Pack members then.” Stiles poked him in the side, “Can you feel our bond?”

“Yes Stiles, it’s a romantic bond that is verging on a mate bond.” Peter smiled at him.

“Good, that’s what I feel as well.”

“I can also feel your lust.” Peter smile turned into a leer.

Stiles punched him, “Jerk.”

* * * * * 

Derek wandered cautiously into the Sheriff’s Station. He really didn’t like being here, it brought back memories of being accused of his sister’s murder and the rather intense questioning by the Sheriff.

“Good Derek, you’re here.” The man himself came into the visitor’s foyer. Even if he was spending a lot of time at the Stilinski house, the man standing in full uniform still made him a little wary.

“I’m glad you came, I have a couple of questions that you might be able to help me answer.” The Sheriff gestured for Derek to follow him and they headed towards the man’s office, only stopping once, “You remember Deputy Harper?” Derek nodded silently at the young woman barely holding back her laughter, “If we find anything you’ll be heading out with her.” 

Deputy Harper’s laughter stilled, “Sir?”

“I’m taking Derek to have a look at a case that I think may do with his assistance.” Derek and the Deputy exchanged looks behind the man’s back as he headed for his office, Derek shrugging at the question on her face. 

The sheriff shut the door behind Derek and then briskly walked to his desk and started laying out some papers from a file, “This case took place nine months after the fire.” Derek wandered over to have a look, his curiosity roused by the stress in the man’s voice. “A woman and her two daughters went on a trip to the supermarket. She was seen by witnesses at the supermarket and then driving toward her home, but they never made it. The car was found about a month after their disappearance but only the woman and her eldest daughter’s bodies were found, the youngest daughter was never found. There was no indication from the department’s investigation that it was an abduction or anything of that nature, but the youngest child’s disappearance has always bothered me.” The sheriff spread out some photos of the car and Derek moved closer studying them intently. 

“Coyotes.” Derek pointed at the paw prints in the photos.

“Yes that was noted in the report.” The Sheriff ran a hand through his hair agitatedly.

“Three sets heading towards the car, four heading away.” Derek continued in a level tone.

“What?” The Sheriff absently shoved Derek out of the way as he looked at the photo’s clearly. Derek was amused by the man’s action, not many people would do that without thinking, especially not when they knew he was an Alpha werewolf. Derek knew that he put out a standoffish persona, and actually liked the resulting space that it generated. He took the Sheriff’s action as a sign of how comfortable the man was with him and liked that. In Derek’s man, while the man was part of his Pack, he had taken the position of former Alpha in his mind and Derek respected his Alpha personality and his wisdom.

“You’re right dammit, how did we miss that.” He cursed for a moment. Then in a moment that proved he was related to Stiles, “What does that mean? Did she turn into a coyote? By herself? Or did someone else change her? Can people turn into coyotes?” He glared at Derek when he didn’t immediately answer his list of questions, but Derek had been waiting for a break in the reel of questions.

“She probably changed herself, due to stress.” Derek met the man’s eyes, “However she would need to have family history of shifting and I haven’t heard of her family.” Derek shrugged, “But I don’t know all the local families.”

“So the Tate’s aren’t a shifter family as fair as you know?” Derek shook his head to answer the Sheriff’s question. 

The man ran a hand through his hair in distress. “Damn it. I was hoping she would still be alive.”

“Who said she wasn’t?” Derek asked curiously.

The Sheriff’s head jerked around so that their eyes met, “A young girl couldn’t survive that long in the wild.” He stated flatly.

“But she’s a coyote.” Derek replied.

“Right. Not a girl but a coyote.” The sheriff sounded like his brain was having trouble accepting the information. “Would she be easy to find?” He eventually asked.

Derek shrugged, “Maybe. It depends on if she fled the area of trauma, or if she stayed close by her family.”

“Will you go looking?”

“Not today, but at some point soon. I’ll take Peter with me, he’s the best tracker in the Pack, and also the least likely to terrify her.”

“Peter?” The sheriff asked sceptically.

“He’s got the most experience of the wolves, except for me I guess, if you don’t count the coma years.” Derek was frowning in thought.

“But he’s kind of…” The sheriff trailed off.

“Not to children.” Derek replied, “They sense that he is dangerous, but know that he would use that to protect them.”

The sheriff nodded, thinking back to see the Hale’s and Peter before the fire, he was always surrounded by children including Derek. “She’s not really a child now though. She’s twelve now.”

“Twelve is still a child, and she’s been a coyote for the last 6 years. She probably hasn’t developed much.”

“Do you mean physically or mentally?” The Sheriff was growing concerned, worried about how she would cope at reintegrating into a human life.

“Physically she’ll be fine. But I would guess that mentally she will be a little behind in social skills, having not interacted with people since she changed.” Derek speculated.

“Right, so I’ll need to start organising her return and human education, when you find her.” The sheriff was muttering to himself and jotting down notes on paper, looking up in surprise when Derek gently interrupted.

“Sheriff, we may not find her and even if we do, she might not want to be human again.”

The Sheriff waved a hand in dismissal, “You’ll find her and she’ll be human again. Thanks for coming in Derek and for your help. Let me know when you’re going to head out to search.” Derek nodded at the Sheriff’s dismissal and headed for the door and gently closed it behind him. Only to shudder at the Sheriff’s quiet words to himself, “I wonder if Stiles wants a sister?”

* * * * * 

Derek sighed as the lights filled his rear window, this would be his fourth ticket in less than four weeks, but calmly slowed the Camaro and pulled over to the side of the road. He rolled down his window and waited for the Sheriff to approach his car. He knew it was the sheriff, because he had recognised the cruiser as belonging to the man, and also because all three of the other tickets had been from him.

“Good evening Sheriff.” He greeted calmly.

“Mr Hale.” The Sheriff nodded blankly, “Do you know what speed you were travelling at?” The man’s voice was calm and impersonal.

“Sorry Sir, but no I don’t.” Derek was adept at this conversation by now.

“15 over the limit, son. Are you in a hurry to get somewhere?” 

Derek shook his head at the man, “No sir, just wanting to get home.”

“You’re not heading the right direction for your loft, Derek.” The Sheriff stated, and meet Derek’s eyes.

“Sorry sir, I actually meant your home.” Derek frowned, “Stiles demanded I come around to watch a movie.”

The Sheriff hid a smirk, and then laughed a loud as the werewolf obviously scented his amusement, “Do you know what movie?”

Derek’s scowl was fearsome, “No. All I got was movie, now, and you out of his babble.”

The Sheriff leaned against the side of the Camaro, deciding not to give him the speeding ticket, enjoying the young man’s confusion at his acquiescing to Stiles demand and deciding to make him feel even more uncomfortable.

“Now son, I think it’s time for us to have a conversation.” The Sheriff watched with even more amusement as Derek shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“I don’t know what about Sir.” His voice was blank of feeling.

“Now Derek, you know exactly what I’m talking about. My 17 year old son.”

Derek looked away from the Sheriff and out the other side of the car.

“My underage son who you’ve been spending a lot of time with.” Derek nodded still looking away from the Sheriff, “I don’t object to you spending time together, in fact it has been very good for Stiles.” Derek did turn to look at the man at this statement and the Sheriff grimaced, “I like Scott a lot but I never liked that it was just the two of them, so I’m happy that Stiles has more friends.”

The Sheriff scowled a little, and glared at Derek, who flinched back slightly, “What I don’t really like is that he seems to have decided that he is attracted to you and,” The Sheriff glared harder, “That interest seems to be mutual.”

Derek paled and the Sheriff knew that he needed to reassure the young man that he wasn’t like Kate Argent. He had formed his own conclusions about how the woman had got her information about the Hale family and Derek’s current reaction was only confirming his suspicions. “Now I’m sure that you aren’t having sex because Stiles has reassured me that he is waiting until he turns 18 and I trust him. What I am worried about is my son getting hurt.”

“I wouldn’t ever hurt Stiles, Sir.” Derek sounded stiff.

“Not on purpose, but it might happen accidentally. I just wanted you to know how I will react.”

Derek swallowed nervously, “Sir?”

“I would start by shooting you full of normal bullets, then I would secure you with mountain ash ropes and proceed to slowly poison you with wolfs bane, you would last for days in immense pain and all alone. And then I would finally slit your throat and dismember you until you finally died.” The Sheriff smiled dangerously and Derek swallowed. Then he slapped a hand on the roof of the Camaro, “Enjoy the movie Derek.” He called casually as he headed for his car.

* * * * *

The Sheriff was carefully moving down the alley beside the video store, his gun drawn and in his hand. He had followed a man down the alley after witnessing some suspicious behaviour, the man had been following two teenage girls, he recognised as being students in Stiles’ year at school, with a strange predatory expression on his face. When the Sheriff had followed the man into the alley he had seemingly disappeared into the shadows, which was the point where he had drawn his gun. His eyes flickered over the alley, taking in the various shadows, warily looking for the man. The hair on the back of his neck was standing on end and he knew he was being watched, but was trying not to let it show. He swallowed and wished silently that he had waited for back up before following the man, who his instincts had pinpointed as being dangerous.

He moved cautiously further into the alley, instinctively knowing that retreat at this point was a bad idea. He was moving quietly, keeping his back to the side of the alley when a shadow in front of shifted. He froze and lifted his gun to point at the figure now emerging from the shadow of a dumpster.

“Stop right there, I am with the Sheriff’s department.” The Sheriff pointed his gun, his finger resting on the trigger. 

The shadow laughed, “How nice, a snack that came to me.” The voice was harsh and all of the hair on the Sheriff’s body stood on end.

“I’m not a snack.” His voice was calm and his gun didn’t waver. However he was swearing internally, why was everything supernatural now. If he had to guess, he was thinking vampire, and as soon as the man stepped into a more lit area he figured his guess was right. The man was skeletally thin, his bones showing clearly on his face, gaunt in a way only the starving were. And the Sheriff could see sharp teeth in the man’s mouth as he spoke.

“Everyone is a snack to me. And you look particularly delicious.” He stepped closer and the Sheriff fired his gun. The figure jerked, but didn’t go down and his eyes, when they rose from observing the hole in his jacket directly over his heart, were glowing a malevolent red, the opposite of the crisp red of Derek’s alpha eyes. The vampire hissed and fell into a crouch and the sheriff swallowed nervously as the vampire’s more humanlike features melted away to reveal something from humankind’s collective nightmares. Cracked, and broken decaying skin covered sharp bones, malevolent red eyes burned with hatred and sharp jagged teeth filled a blood-stained mouth.

The vampire shifted to lunge and the sheriff instinctively fired his gun. Bullets slammed into the lunging figure and the Sheriff dropped to the ground even as he fired. The vampire’s lunge carried him over the Sheriff, who had rolled out of range as soon as he had touched the ground. The sheriff could see where his bullets had hit the vampire, the holes were leaking a oozing black liquid, that was hissing as it hit the ground, leading the sheriff to conclude that the vampire’s blood was acidic.

“You’ll pay for that human.” The sheriff was slamming a new clip into his pistol as fast as he could, only just managing to lock it in place and raise the gun to aim it at the vampire as it once again lunged at him, this time the Sheriff fired his bullets into the vampire’s head. The vampire’s lunge was aborted as the bullets slammed into his face and eyes, both of which exploded in a spray of acidic ooze, a drop of which managed to hit that Sheriff’s hand. He jerked his hand back, and shook it trying to get the acidic blood off his hand, where it was burning through the flesh on his hand. The drop came off, but the Sheriff could still feel his flesh burning.

The vampire hissed in pain, and the Sheriff watched in horrified fear as the vampire’s eyes regrew, black blood staining his face. “I’m going to tear you apart and then go on to destroy all your blood line, human. No one attacks me and survives it.” The sheriff was fumbling for another clip, knowing that he was unlikely to survive this confrontation and was thankful that Stiles wouldn’t be alone. He had only just ejected the spent clip in his gun when the vampire once again leapt at him.

He rolled frantically trying to evade the vampire and felt claws slice into his back as the vampire passed over him. His roll was abruptly halted as a clawed hand grasped his ankle and the Sheriff dug his hands into the ground scrambling to stop the pull towards the vampire. His free foot kicked at the vampire and he felt bone give as his foot connected, but claws soon dug into his free foot and he was dragged towards to vampire. He could feel blood dripping from the claw marks in his ankles and soon from his fingertips as they scrapped the ground as he tried to get away.

He looked up as a nasty sounding growl sounded up the alley and he looked up to take in the wolfed out Peter Hale at the end of the alley. He felt the vampire release his ankles and he scrambled away as fast as he could not wanting to get in the middle of a werewolf and vampire fight.

“What do you want wolf, can’t you see I’m eating.” The vampire hissed.

“There’s only one problem leech, this is Hale territory and we don’t like your kind.” Peter sounded very wolf-like at the moment.

The vampire’s hissing laugh echoed in the alley, “I don’t really care wolf, I’m hungry and the snack came to me.”

“Another problem leech, the snack belongs to me.” The way Peter’s head tilted and the lisping speech from the fangs in his mouth, added an element of danger to the situation and the Sheriff pushed harder back against the alley wall, trying to edge further out of the confrontation. “And I don’t let other’s play with my things.” 

Peter’s leap was graceful in the way a hunting predator is, and he slammed brutally into the vampire. The Sheriff edged further along the alley and away from the ball of hissing vampire and growling werewolf. Peter was slashing at the vampire with clawed hands and biting teeth, while the vampire hissed and bit at Peter with razor sharp teeth. The Sheriff could see the vampire’s acidic blood burning Peter and knew that he needed to assist Peter, he pulled out his back-up gun from his holster on his lower back and steadily aimed it at the fighting until he could get a clear shot at the vampire.

Peter bit down on the vampire’s arm and with a vicious tug, managed to separate it from the vampire’s body. The vampire reared up in painful shock and Peter heard the crack of a bullet impacting into the vampire, and as the head snapped back he lunged upwards and in a brutal flash of strength tore the vampire’s head off.

He tossed the vampire’s head aside and looked up with inhumanly glowing blue eyes to look at the figure of the Sheriff, as the man limped towards him, gun held at his side.

“You alright Peter?” The Sheriff asked his voice forcibly calm.

“Fine Sheriff,” Peter replied the growl in his voice lessening as he shifted back to a fully human form.

“What do we need to do with the body?” He asked as he stared at the head and the still twitching body. 

“Burn it, if we don’t it will eventually regenerate.” Peter nudged the body with a bare foot, his shoes having shredded when he shifted.

The Sheriff face twitched, “Great. Do we need accelerate or will a lighter do the job?”

“A lighter should do it, vampires are flammable.” Peter stepped back as the Sheriff pulled a zippo lighter from his pocket and dropped the flaming lighter on the vampire’s body, which went up in a blast of flames, causing the Sheriff to jump back in surprise.

They stood there and watched for a moment, until Peter kicked the head into the flames and both cringed back at the screaming hiss that emanated from the vampire’s mouth.

“Well that sucked.” The sheriff commented flatly as the flames died down, leaving only a small pile of ashes which were soon dispersed by the light breeze.

“It would have sucked worse if he had bitten you.” Was Peter’s dry return.

“True. Thank you for the rescue.” The sheriff put his hands on his hips, then grimaced as the movement reminded him of his torn fingertips and the acid burn and he put his hand in front of his face to examine it. “Is there anything I need to worry about with vampire blood touching my skin?” The burn was still stinging and it didn’t look good at all.

Peter turned to look at him at the question and quickly grasped his hand, “Did it get into a cut?”

“No, just burnt the skin.” The Sheriff grimaced and both the acidic burned and the tight hold Peter had on his hand.

“Sorry about this Sheriff,” before he had the chance to ask what Peter meant, the wolf lowered his head and licked at the burn.

The Sheriff confused at the man’s actions managed to stammered out, “Huh? Peter why are you licking my hand?”

“Werewolf saliva neutralises vampire venom.” Peter replied as he lifted his head, and together they watched as the burn shrunk and disappeared. 

The Sheriff grimaced and then grudgingly spoke, “It clawed both my ankles.”

“We will never tell Stiles I licked your feet.” Peter growled threateningly after a moment of silence, and the Sheriff restrained a giggle at the thought of Stiles’ reaction.

“Agreed.” He lent against the alley wall and lifted his pants to reveal torn socks and bloody ankles. Peter knelt in front of him and lifted one of the Sheriff’s feet so that he could lick the wounds. The sheriff couldn’t help but giggle at the feeling of Peter’s tongue laving at the wounds, “Sorry,” he tried to say steadily as the werewolf looked at him with confused eyes, “I’m ticklish.”

Peter rolled his eyes and finished licking the wounds, holding the Sheriff’s foot still as it twitched as the man tried to restrain his giggles. He stepped away from the Sheriff as the man straightened and regained his composure.

“Do you want a ride home?” Peter nodded and the two of them moved off towards the Sheriff’s car, silently deciding to both never mention the event again.

* * * * *

When the Sheriff came down stairs that morning, he was greeted with the sight of Peter Hale bustling around in his kitchen.

“Have a seat Sheriff, I’m just finishing up breakfast.” Peter spoke without turning away from the frying pan, which if the Sheriff’s nose was telling him the truth contained bacon. So he sat, was handed a mug of perfectly made coffee, then a few minutes later a plate containing bacon, scrambled eggs, and hash browns was placed in front of him. He picked up the fork that had been placed on the table and began to eat.

He watched carefully, eating his delicious breakfast, as Peter moved confidently around the kitchen. There was no hesitance to his movements as he gathered up a variety of ingredients, which to the Sheriff’s considering eyes looked like the ingredients for cookies.

“So Peter, how often do you use my kitchen?” Peter’s confident movements paused for the tiniest of moments, that if not for the Sheriff’s trained eyes it would have gone unnoticed.

“I often cook for the Pack when they are here.” Peter’s response was calm and unruffled.

“Uh huh, and how often do you cook for just Stiles.” The Sheriff was sceptical that the man only used the kitchen when the entire Pack was over.

Peter turned to meet the Sheriff’s steely eyes, still mixing the cookie dough. “Often enough.” He replied a tilt of his head acknowledging the Sheriff’s point. “I like cooking for Stiles.”

“And for how long do you plan on cooking for Stiles.” Both men could read the real question, how long are you planning on being around.

“Until Stiles no longer wants me to cook for him.” Meaning forever, or at least as long as Stiles wants me. The Sheriff continued to eat his rather delicious breakfast and Peter finished mixing the cookie dough and laid it out on a tray a teaspoon at a time. Peter carefully put the tray into the preheated oven and moved over to the fridge, pulling out the leftovers from the roast beef that Stiles and the Sheriff had eaten for dinner the night before.

“Did you cook that?” The Sheriff asked suspiciously. Peter smirked at him, “Of course you did.” He sighed. “Thank you, it was delicious.”

“What do you like in your sandwich Sheriff?”

“You may as well call me Johannes, if you’re going to be cooking for me on a regular basis.” The Sheriff was resigned to Peter being a continued presence in his life, he knew Stiles and it was unlikely that Stiles would ever let the man go, would ever let any of the Pack go.

“Johannes.” Peter looked pleased, in a subtle way. “What do you want in your sandwich?”

“Surprise me Peter.” Johannes laughed as the man smirked at him and went on to make three rather delicious looking sandwiches. Johannes guess one for him, one for Stiles and probably one for himself. Except the man then went on to put together a salad.

“Who’s getting what?” He asked curiously.

“Stiles gets the salad; you, Cora and Isaac get the sandwiches, as I have no doubt that both Cora and Isaac will forget to bring their own lunches to school.”

The Sheriff accepted the sandwich handed to him, and calmly stood. “Thank you for breakfast Peter.” They both heard the thump of Stiles falling out of bed upstairs. He checked his holster and gun before looking at Peter, eyes like steel. “If you hurt him, I’ll bury you so deep that no one will ever find your body.”

“I would expect nothing less.”

They nodded at each other and both turned to watch Stiles stumble through the door, pyjamas twisted uncomfortably around his body. “Dad, Peter.” He yawned and rubbed a hand over his eyes. “Coffee?” He asked hopefully, gratefully accepting the mug that Peter handed him as he stumbled to the counter. He sat and stared blankly at the empty space in front of him, and then turned pitiful eyes to Peter, “Food?”

Peter laughed and placed a plate in front of him. The Sheriff also laughed at the pitiful sight his son made and moved over to him and placed a kiss on his head, “See you tonight kiddo. Thanks for the sandwich Peter.” 

As he hit the door and left the house he heard his son cry out, “Wait dad, sandwich?” And could only laugh.

* * * * *

Stiles, Cora, Lydia, Jackson and Danny were sitting in their shared history class. Stiles was absently listening to their teacher lecturing them on slavery on the cotton plantations. He was doodling on his note book and had Cora leaning on his shoulder as she discreetly tried to nap, sunglasses covering her eyes. Cora as she finally decided that a nap just wasn’t happening, laughed quietly as she took in the doodled figures of the Pack. Derek was standing proudly in the centre of the page, with Peter lurking malevolently behind him. The Stiles figure was curled up reading under a tree, with the Cora and Isaac figures napping on top of a pile of blankets next to him, and the others in the pack were spread around the page in various poses.

The teacher interrupted the laughter to demand an answer from Cora, who answered the posed question without a pause, having already covered this in South America. The teacher went back to lecturing, glaring at the two of them. Lydia sniffed angrily from her seat across the classroom, irritated at the casual way they were treating the lecture. As soon as the bell rang, Lydia swept out of the classroom with Danny and Jackson scrambling after her. 

Cora watched this with detachment, she didn’t like Lydia. She acted like a spoilt little girl, completely used to getting her own way, expecting everyone to fall into line as she directed. Cora was unwilling to do this as she had easily spotted Lydia’s weaknesses and had to restrain herself from tearing the other girl apart. Her restraint came only because they were in the same pack, and for some reason Stiles seemed to like the girl and Cora adored Stiles. He was the best thing in her life at the moment and he was the heart of the new Hale Pack, he appreciated all of the wolves for who they were and she recognised that both Derek and Peter orbited him like he was the sun. 

Stiles had also accepted her into the Pack without any questions, and easily accepted her for who she was, a somewhat abrasive, physically affectionate, slightly sadistic werewolf. He never protested when she hugged him, or crawled into his bed, only hugged her back or curled around her in his sleep. It was this acceptance that made her angry at Lydia’s treatment of Stiles. She was judgemental, rude and very rarely listened to Stiles’ advise. Cora wrapped a possessive arm around Stiles’ waist as they headed out of the classroom, enjoying the absent way Stiles’ arm fell over her shoulder in return, as he greeted Erica and Boyd happily. 

They headed out onto the school grounds and Stiles pulled lunch from his backpack, and handed Cora her roast beef sandwich and took his own roast beef salad out and dug a fork in happily. Cora knew that Peter had prepared the lunches because the sandwich had spiced mayo and sweet chili sauce on it, something only he did. Conversation was light between the wolves and Stiles and they were soon joined by Isaac, who was immediately handed his own Peter made sandwich from Stiles’ bag.

“How many lunches do you have in your bag Stiles?” Erica asked curiously.

“Why? Are you still hungry?” He asked as he looked at her empty lunch bag.

“No, but you had yours, Cora’s and Isaac’s in there.”

“Oh that’s because Peter made them this morning using the leftovers from last night.” Stiles answered easily.

Erica leered at him, “Oh is Creepy Uncle Peter sleeping over now?”

Stiles blushed, “No, he came over this morning and made them up.”

“And how does the Sheriff feel about that?” Erica’s voice was teasing.

To her surprise Stiles scowled, “Probably delighted, as Peter made him a disgustingly unhealthy sandwich, and added in dessert.”

Isaac perked up, “Does that mean we get dessert as well?”

Stiles was still scowling, even as he reached into his bag and pulled out a bag of homemade cookies, which Cora snatched as soon as she recognised her uncle’s honey oatmeal cookies. Isaac pouted until she handed over the bag and then grabbed his own handful with a grin and passed the bag to Erica, who looked curious as to the reaction, until she tasted one of the cookies for herself. 

“Wow, these are delicious. Who made them?”

“Uncle Peter.” Cora answered, swallowing her mouthful of cookie, “It’s his secret recipe.”

Stiles was nibbling on one of the cookies himself and enjoying Erica and Boyd’s reactions. Boyd hadn’t spoken but had reached for another cookie as soon as he was done with the first.

“The secret ingredient is probably poison.” Lydia’s snappy voice interrupted Cora’s delight in her cookies, she had noticed the girl’s approach but had hoped that she would pass by.

Cora turned to glare at Lydia.

“I doubt it’s poison Lyds. Peter made them this morning in front of my father.” Stiles sounded calm, but because of her close position to him Cora could feel the tension in his body. “And that’s not something my father would miss.”

“So you don’t disagree that Peter could poison someone, just that he wouldn’t do it in front of your father.” Cora couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“Of course he could poison someone, but he wouldn’t poison Pack.” Cora spoke scathingly.

“Plus I’m pretty sure he would rather tear them to shreds physically.” Erica spoke up and when Cora met her eyes she could see a shared dislike of the red head. “Or stalk them until they had a mental breakdown.” Cora swallowed a laugh, she knew that was what Peter had done to Lydia before his resurrection.

“Guys enough.” Stiles scolded them lightly, before turning to look at Lydia with a frown. “Lydia, you are going to have to learn to trust Peter if you want to be a part of the Pack.”

“Why? The man is an unstable, murderous and sadistic monster.” Lydia demanded her fists on her hips, both Danny and Jackson stepped slightly away from the fuming girl, but remaining in flanking positions.

“Because he is Pack, and no longer unstable.” Stiles’ voice was firm.

“So he’s still murderous and sadistic? And that’s alright? Why can’t you see he’s dangerous Stiles?”

Stiles laughed somewhat harshly, “We’re all dangerous Lydia. Your boyfriend and I set fire to man when we were human, knowing that it was his greatest fear.”

“But he’s a monster.”

“So is your boyfriend.” Stiles was blunt, but did briefly throw an apologetic look at Jackson, who shrugged indifferent to the comment.

“He hasn’t ever killed anyone.” Stiles gaped at her in shock.

“Except when I was the kanima.” Jackson stated calmly, accepting the vicious glare Lydia sent his way.

“When you didn’t know what you were doing.” Lydia waved away his comment.

“And Peter was insane when he killed those people.” Stiles eyes were getting colder, and Cora was starting to vibrate in rage.

“Don’t be an idiot Stiles, you are being blinded by your crush on the man. He’s a monster who set out to kill innocent people.” Lydia sounded patronising.

“You mean people who contributed to the murder of almost all of my family.” Cora snarled getting to her feet, graceful and threatening in her movements.

Stiles followed her standing at her side, and Isaac, Erica and Boyd also stood, but took a position out of the fight and were soon joined by Danny, leaving Jackson to reluctantly stand with his irate girlfriend.

Lydia swallowed somewhat unnerved by Cora’s behaviour, not having considered her in this confrontation with Stiles.

“Not all of them were part of that.” Lydia steadied herself.

“Yes they were, every single one of them contributed to either the fire or to the cover up.” Stiles glared at her.

“I’m sure that’s what he told you Stiles, but he lied.” Lydia’s was certain in her knowledge.

“He didn’t tell me shit Lydia. My dad told me, the department’s investigation linked every one of those deaths to the Hale fire. Every single one.” His voice was cold. Lydia gaped at him. “Let me put it another way Lydia, my father, the Sheriff, knows exactly who killed those people and he decided not to arrest Peter. Knowing that if it got to trial he would be let off due to insanity.”

Lydia faltered, but soon regained herself attacking in another way. “Fine, so he killed those people with a purpose. But Stiles,” Her voice was sympathetic, “He’s taking advantage of you.” Stiles went stiff, “I know you want to be loved.” She cooed softly and Cora growled, “But he can’t really care about you. He’s using you to ensure that he is safe.” 

Jackson stepped back in shock, even he could tell that Peter did care about Stiles, his ever action showed it, his scent showed it, every single werewolf in the pack could see the solid mate bond forming between Stiles and Peter. “Lydia enough.” He spoke harshly, but Lydia ignored him.

Cora’s temper continued to rise as Lydia continued to dig at Stiles and Peter’s relationship. “He just wants to ensure that he is protected and that he won’t be held accountable for any future murders.”

Lydia’s face snapped to the side as Cora’s hand slapped her. “That’s enough. You are showing your colours Lydia.” Jackson restrained himself from defending his girlfriend, sadly recognising that Lydia needed to face the consequences of her actions for once. Lydia had tears brimming and was holding a hand to her rapidly bruising cheek. “You are a spoilt little girl, believing that you know best. However you are both ignorant and naïve. While you seem to believe that everyone will always follow your lead because you are beautiful and intelligent, you are wrong. The real world doesn’t work like that and it will tear you apart. Your beauty will make you vulnerable, because you rely on others to confirm it for you, your intelligence is limited because you have book knowledge but can’t read people well enough to protect yourself. But do you know the worst thing about you Lydia,” Lydia had silent tears running down her face by this point, “you don’t like to share your toys, and you have always viewed Stiles as your toy because he worshipped you and now that he doesn’t, you are jealous and want him back, but guess what sweetie, he’s the Pack’s now, and the Pack is his.” Cora stepped back and Stiles touched her lightly on the back.

Lydia gasped in a tearful breath before she stepped backwards, and spun running away. Her rapid retreat was quickly followed by Danny, however Jackson remained behind for a few minutes. He met Cora’s eyes and he nodded in acknowledgement of her speech, Lydia occasionally needed to be told off for her behaviour and the brutal way Cora had gone about it was sadly the only way it would have sunk in. 

He turned to Stiles, “She’s wrong about Peter, he does care for you. And while he is a manipulative, sadistic bastard he wouldn’t play with your feelings like that.” After speaking he stepped forward to quickly hug Stiles before chasing after his distraught girlfriend.

Stiles stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Cora’s waist, resting his head on her shoulder, “I hate that you had to do that.”

“I don’t, she needed to be told.” Cora was calm, her temper having been used up in her rant.

Erica stepped up next to them, Isaac and Boyd following as well. “Well you are definitely a Hale.” A snicker emerged from Isaac as Erica spoke.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Isaac and Cora came out of the supermarket with arms full of bags, and headed towards Isaac’s car which they had parked on the far side of the parking lot, well away from the few cars whose owners were also doing some late night shopping. Stiles had shoved the list into their hands along with Peter’s credit card and shooed them out the door, leaving them both feeling vaguely confused about the whole situation, but nonetheless they headed for the supermarket.

As they crossed the car park a frisson of danger sparked in their spines. Their instincts were shouting at them and after exchanging a quick glance they both sped up to cross the dark and empty car park. They were almost at the car when Cora froze as she noticed the set of red eyes glaring at them from the tree line, Isaac had frozen at the same time as her so she knew that he had also seen the eyes. She quickly placed her bags on the ground, slipped into a crouched fighting position and growled threateningly. Isaac was quick to follow her lead.

“Oh little puppies, do you really think you can take an Alpha out?” The accompanying laugh was malicious enough to send shivers down Cora spine and she swallowed nervously. The Alpha stepped into the light and she recognised one of the twins that had started at Beacon Hills High School at the same time she had. She looked around for the other twin, for very rarely was one without the other.

“Don’t worry little wolf, my twin is a bit busy at the moment taking care of some other problems.” Cora breathed out a little, at least there was only one Alpha to fight. Isaac growled menacingly, he didn’t like his Pack being threatened and that had definitely been a threat. Both of them knew that they weren’t going to have any option but to fight, so without looking at each other, they moved simultaneously to attack the Alpha. The training that Derek and Peter had been put them through allowing them to know how each other would fight and co-ordinate.

Cora went in low and Isaac leapt high, but the Alpha moved fast and they both missed as he dodged their attack. As he spun out of the way, he clawed Cora as she moved past him. She grunted in pain as the claws opened her skin along her side, but didn’t stop her movement to turn and attack again. Isaac had hit the ground and flipped so that he was facing the Alpha again, his reaction so fast that his slash succeeded in drawing blood. 

The Alpha growled in anger, his eyes flashing brightly and the next few minutes were a whirl of claws and teeth and blood, until Cora and Isaac moved backwards out of the fight and the Alpha let them. Both the betas were bleeding and Cora took the brief break to set her broken arm, and Isaac swiped at the blood steadily dripping into his eyes from the gash the Alpha’s claws had opened in his forehead.

The Alpha laughed, “Little wolves, you’re better than I thought you would be, but you’re still going to die.” Then holding Cora’s glowing eyes with his own, he delicately lapped the blood off his claws, “Delicious.”

Cora growled at the action and lunged at him, Isaac echoing her move. For just a moment it seems like they were gaining the upper hand, until the Alpha casually tossed Isaac away with barely any effort. Isaac flew across the parking lot and slammed into the car. The sound of breaking bones, shattering glass and bending metal, along with Isaac’s agonised gasp, let Cora know that she was now on her own. She circled the Alpha, but knew that she was outclassed. 

As Peter had taught her she had been looking for a weakness to exploit but the Alpha had shown none, in fact the longer they fought the stronger he seemed to get. Unlike herself, she was getting tired and she knew that if she had any chance of beating him it had to be soon.  
She shifted on her feet preparing to lunge, when the Alpha burst into movement and she was slammed into the ground with tremendous force. She felt at least two of her ribs break and gasped for air as the impact force expelled the air from her lungs, the Alpha smirked as he pinned her down and she closed her eyes as he raised his clawed hand to tear out her throat.

The sharp crack of a bullet exiting a gun caused her to open her eyes and she watched as the Alpha reared back, a bloody hole in his chest making it obvious where the bullet had hit. She looked over and took in the sight of an irate Sheriff moving towards her and the Alpha. The Alpha, although in a tremendous amount of pain, managed to steady himself and fall into a threatening crouch, releasing an ominous growl.

The Sheriff shot again and the Alpha jerked back, another hole appearing in his chest. Cora could smell wolfs bane and knew that at some point the Sheriff had managed to get his hands on some wolfs bane bullets. The Alpha gathered himself to lunge and Cora lashed out with a foot, slamming it into his knee, making him fall. While she was doing this the Sheriff had been steadily moving forward and when his gun cracked again, Cora was splattered with blood, bone and brain matter as the Sheriff blew out the back of the Alpha’s head.

“Are you alright Cora?” The man asked as he moved to help her up, one hand still holding the drawn gun.

“I’ve been better.” She replied dryly as he checked her over, taking in the numerous slashes and the delicate way she was holding her body.

“Ribs?” She nodded at his question.

“They’ll heal.” Cora looked over at Isaac, “You alright?” She called out to Isaac who had managed to crawl out of the wreckage of the car.

He waved a hand in the air, but otherwise didn’t move from his prone position.

“Is Stiles alright?” Cora asked suddenly, looking at the Sheriff in worry.

“Why?” He demanded even as he reached for his mobile.

“He said his twin was taking care of some other problems.” Cora replied worried. The Sheriff immediately pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialled. He was soon holding his phone to his ear, but the expression on his face was getting more and more worried as it kept ringing without answer.

“He, Derek and Peter were going to the video store to get the movies for tonight.” Isaac informed them as he staggered over to them. Cora looked at him and noticing the unevenness of his shoulder, held him still with the Sheriff’s assistance and with a solid jerk reset his shoulder. All three of them quickly headed for the Sheriff’s cruiser, knowing that the rest of the Pack was in danger and they needed to go and help. They had just reached the cruiser and pulled the doors open when the Sheriff’s phone rang.

“Stiles?” he demanded urgently as he answered.

“Hi dad.” Stiles sounded tired.

“Are you okay?”

“A bit bruised, but how did you know I was hurt?” Stiles answered.

“I just saved Cora and Isaac from an Alpha. Cora said his twin was coming after you.”

“Did he get away?” Peter demanded loudly enough in the background for the Sheriff to be able to hear him through the phone.

“No, the Sheriff killed him.” Cora answered.

“Good.” Derek was heard to say.

“We’ll see you at home soon dad?”

“Right, be careful you three and I’ll see you soon.” The Sheriff hung up and looked at the two relieved looking young wolves. “I suppose that’s your car?” He nodded at the mangled mess that Isaac had hit.

“Yeah.” Isaac sighed as he took in his car. “And I really liked that car. Derek helped me buy it during the summer.”

“I’ll call the tow truck.” The Sheriff looked over to where the Alpha’s body was sprawled out on the parking lot, “And the coroner.”

“Maybe the coroner isn’t the best idea.” Isaac suggested gently. The Sheriff sighed but nodded in agreement, and the three of them stood trying to come up with an alternative.

They were startled by a SUV pulling into the parking lot, and the Sheriff swore gently under his breathe. “Looks like I don’t have a choice about the coroner now.”

“Evening Sheriff.” The SUV rolled to a stop next to them and the window rolled down to reveal Chris Argent.

“Chris.” The Sheriff answered steadily.

“Need any help?”

“How are you with body disposal?” He asked cautiously, as he nodded at the Alpha’s prone body.

“Is that one of the Alphas?” Chris asked, as he and one of his hunters hopped out of the SUV.

“Yes, one of the twins.” The Sheriff replied, casually stepping forward into front of the two wolves who edged slightly in behind him at the approach of the hunter.

Chris looked at the three of them, taking in the Sheriff’s still drawn gun and bloody, torn clothing, “I’ll take care of it, Sheriff. Maybe you should head home and clean up.”

The Sheriff studied the man and, nodding gratefully, holstered his gun. “Thanks Chris. I owe you a beer.” 

As he herded the teenagers back to his cruiser Isaac cried out in a panicked tone, causing everyone to jump in alert. “Wait, the food.” The Sheriff rolled his eyes, and he and the hunters relaxed, “Stiles will kill us if we don’t bring it home.” 

* * * * * 

Stiles had to laugh at the confused expressions on Cora and Isaac’s faces as he shuffled them out the door. It was movie night and he had discovered that not only did they have no snacks, he was guessing the Pack had finished them off, that they had seen all of the movies he had. So he had sent Cora and Isaac for snacks and was going to drag Derek and Peter to the video store because he knew they would give in to him and he would be able to get a movie he wanted to watch.

Erica and Boyd were having dinner out at one of the nicer restaurants in town, celebrating Erica getting a part-time job waitressing at Gina’s Diner. And Jackson and Danny were trotting around after Lydia, while she shopped in San Francisco with her father’s credit card. So it was just going to be Isaac, Stiles and the Hale’s at movie night tonight and Stiles was thinking robots, explosions and superheroes would be just the thing.

“What are you up to Stiles?” Peter’s voice made him shriek and leapt into the air in a bundle of flailing limbs.

“Where did you come from?” He cried clutching at his chest. “You need bells.” Then he pointed a dramatic finger at Derek who was standing a little away laughing silently, “You both need bells.”

“Like you could get us to wear them.” Peter smirked at him.

Stiles rolled his eyes and then flung his arms into the air, “Whatever. We’re going to the video store.”

“With all the movies you have, why do we need to go to the video store?” Derek claimed in disbelief.

Stiles shrugged, “We’ve watched all my movies and I want to watch Iron Man.”

“You must have that movie, you’ve got the rest of them.” Peter said eyeing Stiles suspiciously.

“Scott borrowed it. Come on let’s go.” Derek and Peter exchanged looks but both decided to leave it and trailed after Stiles as he headed out the door, Derek grabbing the keys to the cayenne which had tossed onto the side table when they had arrived.

Once they got to the video store, Stiles leapt out of the front passenger seat and strode into the video store. He immediately grabbed the Iron Man DVD, and headed for the counter his progress only halted by Peter wrapping an arm around his waist and restraining him. 

“Peter.” He complained, “What are you doing?”

“You may be happy with only Iron Man, but I want to at least grab one other.”

Stiles pouted and looked up at him from under lowered lashes, “But that’s the one I want to watch.”

Peter smiled at him affectionately. “Cute Stiles, but I’m not going to fall for your manipulations.” As he pulled him towards the new releases. 

Stiles pouted harder at the failure of his ploy and consented to be pulled. Peter kept his arm around Stiles’ waist, ignoring the curious eyes of the clerk as he and Derek debated what other movie to get, eventually deciding on two other movies. Peter finally released the squirming Stiles who snatched the movies out of Derek’s hand and rushed over to the counter.

“Hi Margo.” Stiles greeted cheerfully. “How did your chemistry test go?”

“I think I passed Stiles. Who are your friends?” She asked curiously.

“Oh, Derek, Peter this is Margo, she’s in my English class at school. Margo this is Peter and Derek Hale.” Stiles introduced indicating each of them in turn. Derek nodded stoically, while Peter smiled charmingly.

Margo blushed slightly at Peter’s smile, and then rung up the DVDs. “Hope you have a nice night Stiles.” 

Stiles grinned at her, “I’m sure I will.” 

Derek had to snicker as Stiles managed to trip as they left the store and was only saved from an embarrassing face plant by Peter’s quick save.

“So back home?” Peter queried after they climbed into the car.

“Actually, I do want to make another stop if you don’t mind?” Stiles asked turning in the passenger seat to face Derek with a grin and batting eyelashes.

Derek rolled his eyes at the action, “Where?” 

“Excellent,” Stiles grinned wickedly. “Head towards the loft.”

Derek turned the cayenne towards his loft, and then followed Stiles directions leading them further into the industrial section. Stiles only grinned in response to Peter grilling him about their destination, enjoying it as Peter grew more intent the longer they travelled for. Derek, on the other hand, recognised their destination from the directions and raised an eyebrow at Stiles, who laughed aloud when he saw that Derek knew but wouldn’t tell his uncle either.

They eventually pulled into a discreet driveway and Stiles dashed out of the car, leaving the werewolves waiting impatiently in the car, well one werewolf waiting impatiently.

“Do you know what he’s getting?” Peter asked curiously. Derek ignored his uncle calmly waiting for Stiles, “Derek.” Peter whined, “Tell me.” 

Stiles tripped out of the doorway, and then grinning clambered back into the car clutching a brown paper bag. “Home Jeeves.” Stiles could only laugh at the scowl that Derek directed at him. “Come on Sourwolf, I’ll share with you.” He shook the bag in his hand.

“I want at least half.”

Stiles pouted at the demand, “Fine, half.”

“What did you get?” Peter stuck his head through the gap between the front seats. He was curious, the bag had no scent except for that of paper and a lingering perfume.

“I’m not telling,” Stiles sang as he made sure Peter couldn’t grab the bag. “It’s a surprise.”

They drove for a few minutes, but to Stiles and Peter’s curiosity they pulled into the liquor store.

“Booze?” Peter asked and then shook his head disappointedly, “It’s not going to be that bad Derek. I’m sure you’ll be able to tolerate watching Iron Man.”

“Idiot,” Derek rolled his eyes, “Out of the car both of you.”

Stiles jumped out of the car, carefully putting the paper bag on the floor in the passenger seat area. Peter climbed out reluctantly and stalked after his nephew and Stiles, who was dancing around Derek demanding to know what they were doing here. Derek eventually stopped Stiles flailing by wrapping an arm around his shoulders and tugging him into his body.

“Quiet Stiles.” He ordered quietly, before knocking on the door next to the liquor store. The door went almost unnoticed next to the bright lights of the liquor store, and both Stiles and Peter had missed it. The door was cracked open and Stiles and Peter only got a glimpse of a single bright green eye before the door closed again. They heard the lock being unlocked and then the door was opened, Derek guided Stiles in with Peter following closely behind.

“Ohhh,” Stiles made a delighted noise as he took in the shelves and shelves of bottles and containers.

“A secret dessert shop?” Peter asked curiously.

“Mama Kestrel’s.” Stiles replied in awe. Derek just gave Stiles a tiny smile. “I love you so much right now.” Stiles hugged him and then dashed off to look at the shelves. 

Peter wandered over to Derek, “Really nephew? Bribery?”

“What am I trying to get him to do?” Derek smirked at Peter, then leaned over to breathe in his ear, “I don’t need to use bribery to get him to do what I want.” Peter raised an eyebrow in doubt. “Stiles.” He called and Stiles looked up at them and then trotted over as Derek wiggled his fingers in summons.

“Yes?” Stiles tilted his head questioningly.

“Give me those.” Derek reached out and took the three bottles that Stiles had picked up. “One more then we are going.”

Stiles grinning and danced over to another display. 

“What did he select?” Peter asked curiously.

“Chocolate caramel, peppermint, and wild berry.”

“Really Derek? That’s what you reduce them to.” A strong voice interrupted them and both wolves turned to look at the plump dark haired woman behind them.

“Kestrel.” Derek leaned down and kissed her cheek. They heard a squeak and all three of them turned to look at Stiles who was staring at Kestrel with big eyes.

“Oh my god,” he bounced over, “I love your sauces.” His eyes were big and he looked delighted to be meeting the woman. “Especially your cinnamon, apple and vanilla syrup.”

Kestrel laughed in delight, “Oh darling boy, I have a special treat for you then. Wait here for a moment.” She bustled away and Stiles was left bouncing impatiently in place. Peter rolled his eyes and wandered away over to inspect a display across the room. 

Kestrel came back in without much of a delay and had a label less bottle and a small cup containing some vanilla ice cream with a bit of red sauce splashed on it.

Stiles had to hide his grabby hands, and managed to show enough control to accept the little cup gracefully with thanks. He took a small scoop and could only moan in delight as the flavours burst across his tongue. Kestrel laughed in delight at Stiles’ reaction, but Derek’s eyes grew heated as he stared at Stiles devouring the dessert. Peter was also focused on Stiles and strolled over casually.

“Can I try some, pet?”

Stiles raised an eyebrow, “Pet? Really Peter?” 

Peter smiled charmingly at Stiles, “Darling?”

“Stiles?” 

“Yes Derek?” Stiles smiled brightly at Derek.

“Can I try some?” Stiles dug a spoonful of ice cream with a generous helping of the sauce and held it out for Derek to taste. Derek took the hand and pulled Stiles in closer and bent down to take the spoonful in his mouth eyes making sure to keep Stiles’. “You’re right, Stiles, that’s delicious.”

Stiles had a heated flush across his cheekbones, “Uh huh.” He was dazed.

Well at least until Peter’s slow sarcastic clapping interrupted, “Well done Derek.”

Derek rolled his eyes at his uncle, and Stiles recovered his composure. “Meany.” He pouted at Peter who only pulled him away from Derek and pressed a light kiss to his forehead and then tucked him into his side, Stiles wrapped an arm around him and smiled at both Derek and Kestrel.

“Look like you lost your date, Derek sweetheart.” Kestrel was grinning.

Derek gave her a surprisingly boyish grin, “I’m still his ride home.” Kestrel gave a silvery laugh in response.

“Shall I box those up for you?” She nodded at the three bottles on the desk.

“Thanks Kestrel,” Derek answered. Peter reached behind him and nudged Derek with another bottle, “Better grab this one as well.” He took the bottle from Peter and handed it to the smiling woman, who put it in the bag with the three Stiles had chosen, then with a cheerful wink to Stiles put the label less bottle in the bag as well.

“Here you go sweetheart.”

“Thanks, how much do I owe you?” Derek reached for his wallet.

“Put that away, Derek. You know you don’t pay here.” Stiles and Peter looked on in curiosity as Derek sighed and put his wallet away without a protest.

Kestrel escorted them to the door and opened it for them, however as they stepped out of the door the three males noticed the three sets of glowing red eyes.

“Lock the door.” Derek ordered Kestrel, who with a frightened squeak at the knowledge of an upcoming fight, slammed the door closed and they immediately heard the bolts slamming into place.

Derek and Peter shifted so that they stood side by side, making sure that Stiles was protected and tucked behind them against the door that Kestrel had locked. Stiles swallowed nervously, he had known that this confrontation had been coming, but now that it was here he was scared because this was going to be messy and someone was mostly likely going to die. He could only hope that it would be the Alpha Pack who lost members rather than them.

Derek’s eyes were glowing red as he stared at the Alpha wolves approaching the three of them. He recognised the older two wolves as Kali and Ennis, and by default that meant the youngest must be one of the twins that had started at the high school. He focused his glare at Ennis, the Alpha who had bitten Paige and growled menacingly. His whole body itched for him to attack the werewolf who killed Paige, the only thing preventing him from doing so was Stiles’ presence and the knowledge that any attack he made would leave Stiles open and vulnerable to attack.

“Oh look it’s the Hales and their human pet.” Ennis’ voice was mocking as the three Alpha’s casually walked up the alley towards them. Kali’s laughter at the comment was rough and the twin’s smirk bloodthirsty as they came to a halt not far from where Stiles and his wolves were standing.

“I object to that term.” Stiles had to point out. Peter shot him a harsh look with glowing blue eyes and Stiles knew that Peter desperately wanted Stiles to keep his mouth shut. Really he should know better, Stiles was a smart-ass normally and nerves made him even worse.

“Oh. Should I have called you their piece of ass?” Ennis smirked at the human.

Stiles sighed dramatically, and when he spoke, there was a mocking edge to his words. “I wish. No, I’m not their piece of ass, I promised my dad no bad touching until I turn 18.”

Peter decided to shift the Alpha’s focus off his mate. “What can we do for you tonight?” His voice was chilly, but flawlessly polite.

“Well, Aiden here,” Kali waved a dismissive hand at the twin, “Was complaining that he was bored and I got sick of his whining. So I decided to go hunting for some fun. And here you are, the solution to my problem.” Kali’s eyes were startlingly red and Stiles could easily read her desire for blood. “Killing you will definitely keep his boredom at bay.”

Derek growled, “You won’t be killing anyone in my Pack, not ever.” Stiles almost felt like clapping with how scary his voice was.

The three Alpha’s spread out and Derek and Peter stepped away from Stiles and the building in order to get some space for the upcoming fight. Stiles took a deep breath and pulled his magic together in preparation, the temperature of the alley dropping as a result. 

Without any further delay Kali leapt at Peter and Ennis went for Derek. Stiles was aware of their fights but was keeping his eye on the twin who was prowling closer to him as Kali and Ennis drew Peter and Derek away. Stiles used his magic to shape twin ice knives, and made sure he was holding them securely. The twin smirked at him and when he dropped into a crouch, Stiles knew that Peter and Derek must now be out of range to protect him.

As the twin launched at him with a growl, Stiles’ mind went into over-drive and an icy calm took him over. He dropped as the twin launched, bringing his knives up to cut into the Alpha as he travelled over where Stiles was now unexpectedly positioned. Stiles’ continued his drop and rolled, coming to his feet and watching unemotionally as the werewolf ran his finger through the blood coming from the deep cut on his stomach, and then looked at Stiles with anger burning in his eyes.

“You’ll pay for that human.”

Stiles just waited silently for the werewolf’s next attack. His mind was cataloguing the fights going on around him, without taking his focus away from his own fight. Derek and Ennis were swiping at each other using brute strength, while Peter and Kali were moving like they were involved in a deadly dance.

The twin lunged at him again and Stiles felt his claws dig into his upper arm as he was slow to dodge. He used a twist of wind to throw the Alpha away even as he swiped back with his knives. The alpha twisted and landed on his feet a few feet from Stiles and growled as once again Stiles’ knives had scored a hit. The next few minutes flashed past with swipes and cuts as the two of them circled each other warily, making probing attacks to get each other’s measure. 

Stiles strategy was to stay out of grabbing range, as he knew that if the Alpha got a hold of him he was a goner. So his attacks were designed to allow him to strike and then retreat immediately. The Alpha, who’s own strategy relied on his physical strength, was trying to pin Stiles down and use that superior strength to tear out his throat.

Derek was trying to remain calm and not let his anger get the best of him as he fought Ennis. He hated him with a passion, but that hatred didn’t stop him from recognising that the man was slightly stronger than him, however that was balanced by his slightly faster speed. They drew back from each other and Derek knew that he had to come up with a way to use his speed to gain the edge on the other Alpha, otherwise this fight was not going to end well.

Peter was enjoying his fight, and knew that he should probably try to control that. His blood was up and although he was bleeding from a number of small cuts he knew that he had made an equal amount of hits on the female Alpha. He darted in and slashed at Kali’s eyes and as she instinctively jerked her head back his other hand clawed her stomach and tore open another cut, unfortunately as he retreated her foot managed to hit him and the claws on her toes opened a cut on his upper thigh. She grinned viciously at him and he knew his grin was equally as vicious. Peter had missed fighting with an opponent that was almost his equal.

Stiles was starting to get tired and knew that he was going to have to do something different in order to survive. He had been using his Ice gift but was going to have to start using his spirit gift, and that would be dangerous. In order to give himself the time he required, he threw his ice blades at the Alpha he was fighting followed by a number of extra blades that Stiles magically created. While the Alpha clawed at the knives that had sunk into him, Stiles dropped into his magic and found the part of his magic that was cold like death. 

When Stiles reopened his eyes, the Alpha who had managed to pull the blades from his body paused his attack, taking in the black eyes now staring at him. He shoved down the shiver of fear that travelled down his spine and leapt into another attack. Sure the other boy was a magic user, but the Alpha pack had killed magic users before without much trouble.

Peter felt the temperature of the alley drop dramatically and both he and Kali paused in their fight to look at Stiles, both instinctively recognising him as the origin point of the coldness. Peter felt like whining in desire as he took in the figure of his mate. Stiles was standing in the middle of a circle of ice and mist and Peter recognised the coldness for what it was, death.

Kali was startled, it had been a long time since she had seen a necromancer and that was what the young man was, a fully-fledged necromancer. She had been having second thoughts about attacking the Hale Pack for a while, especially after some of the rumours she had heard and this just added to those thoughts.

Peter took advantage of Kali’s distraction as she looked at his mate and moved with lightning speed to slash her stomach open with a clawed hand. Kali staggered back in shock as her stomach was torn open, she feared this was her death as Peter smiled at her maliciously, promising her end. But he was distracted by a pained grunt from his Alpha, and as he looked towards his Alpha Kali took the opportunity to escape with her life, abandoning her Pack mates without a further thought.

When Peter looked at Derek he noticed that his shoulder had been dislocated, but that he was alright. Peter turned back to Kali and noticed that she had taken advantage of his distraction to retreat down the alley clutching her stomach. Peter pouted, he had wanted to kill her, but turned back to the still attacking Alphas. Derek had managed to injure Ennis enough that he had just enough time to pop his shoulder back into place, before he leapt to attack again. 

Stiles could feel the cold emanating from his body, to his surprise it wasn’t painful at all but almost comforting. He stepped towards the Alpha in front of him, who was growling in anger and confusion at the serene smile on Stiles’ face. Stiles cocked his to the side and stepped forward, extending a hand out to touch the Alpha. The Alpha skittered backwards in sudden fear, red eyes focused on the extended hand, everything in him screaming at him to avoid being touched. 

As he moved out of Stiles’ reach his eyes suddenly went wide and he clutched desperately at his throat. Stiles watched in detachment as the Alpha’s blood leaked through his desperate fingers, then switched his focus to the werewolf who had taken advantage of the other’s terror to claw his throat open. Stiles met Peter’s eyes and smiled at his mate, as Alpha red bleed through his beta blue eyes. 

Peter couldn’t contain a howl of joy as the Alpha power flooded his body. He could feel the power energising his blood, his blood moving faster and his muscles getting stronger. He felt a light touch on his cheek and looked down to meet his mate’s still black eyes, the cold of his touch was comforting and Peter wanted to kiss him, but Stiles looked past him and then gently and serenely moved towards the still fighting Derek. Peter watched as Stiles approached Ennis silently from behind and gently touched the back of his neck.

Derek had heard his uncle howl and watched in confusion and no small amount of fear as Stiles moved towards his fight with unearthly grace. When Ennis took advantage of his distraction and punched the shoulder that had already been dislocated, he jerked back in pain. It was at this point that Stiles gently touched Ennis, whose eyes flew wide open and he opened his mouth as if to scream. There wasn’t any noise however, and Derek watched in surprise as Ennis’s skin bleached white, and it grew tight on his bones. When he fell to his knees and his eye’s went blank with death, it was as a gaunt, skeletal figure that was almost unrecognisable from the burly werewolf he had been in life.

Stiles lowered his hand and then with a shudder slumped backwards, only saved from hitting the ground by Peter’s quick catch.

Derek stood and carefully moved towards his uncle and Stiles, both because he was injured and because he had seen his uncle’s Alpha red eyes and knew that it was likely that he would be reluctant to let another Alpha wolf near his vulnerable mate.

Peter growled instinctively as his nephew approached, but he quickly controlled his instincts and nodded for Derek to come closer.

Derek moved in closer to them and crouched to gently cup Stiles’ cheek with a bloody hand.

“Hey Sourwolf.” Stiles voice was tired as he turned his face into Derek’s hand.

“Are you all right?” Derek’s voice showed his concern as he watched Stiles blinking slowly and nuzzling at his hand. But Derek could feel Stiles’ skin warming up against his hand and that relieved his worry.

Peter was clutching his mate, also worried about the coldness that his body had been emitting, but like Derek, his worry was disappearing as the places where Stiles’ body was touching his own heated up rapidly. Stiles reached up and patted Derek’s face gently and then curled up so that more of him was touching Peter, knowing that his mate needed him. Derek reached out and grasped his uncle’s shoulder wanting the comfort of a pack-mate’s touch in the aftermath of the fight. He was jerked off-balance by his uncle’s hand grasping his shirt and ended up on the ground curling around both of his Pack mates.

There was a comfortable silence in the alley for a period of time, but eventually Stiles stirred and pushed the two wolves away from him. He staggered to his feet, and turned to look at the two wolves now standing not far from him. He swallowed somewhat nervously, his next actions could cause some trouble but he knew that it had to happen now, before any conflict could impact on the rest of the Pack.

He looked up and looked between the two Alpha wolves standing in front of him, then dropped to his knees in front of Derek. 

“Alpha.” He murmured as he tilted his head back and exposed his throat to Derek, to his chosen Alpha. He heard two sharp shocked inhales from the werewolves in front of him, and held his breath, wary about Peter’s potential reaction. 

Derek leaned down and gently bit Stiles’ throat, accepting his willing submission and also worried about Peter’s reaction. Newly made Alphas were always touchy and they were making Peter watch as another Alpha accepted his unbonded mate’s submission. He was surprised that it was only a snarl and that he hadn’t been physically attacked. But Peter’s control had always been impeccable.

When Derek stood, his hand was gently resting on Stiles’ shoulder possessively. Stiles opened his eyes and met Peter’s glowing red eyes.

Peter snarled as his mate allowed another Alpha to claim him as Pack. He involuntarily shifted into his beta form and he growled angrily at both of them. But he also recognised what Stiles had done, he had chosen Derek as his Alpha to push Peter into making a decision. Peter, if he was being honest with himself, knew that he was not ready to be the Alpha. He was still healing, still stabilising and the power would definitely go to his head. Stiles knew this and it was this knowledge that shone in his eyes as Peter looked at him. Derek, although he had never been trained to be the Alpha was proving to be a rather good Alpha, taking after his mother. He met his mate’s eyes and could read the plea in them. 

He snarled and started to pace as he considered his options. Did he challenge Derek for his mate, and therefore for his position as Alpha of the Hale Pack, or does he submit to Derek and lose his newly attained Alpha, but keep his place in a good pack and retain his mate. He spun violently and stilled, looking at the two waiting for his decision. Stiles, his precious mate, was looking at him calmly with only a hint of a plea in his eyes, like he already knew what Peter was going to decide. However Derek was looking fearful, and Peter guessed it was because he was afraid that Peter would decide to challenge him and that it would mean that the tiny remains of the once large Hale family could get even smaller.

Peter snarled and stalked towards Derek, who braced himself to fight. But instead Peter dropped to his knees in front of Derek, beside Stiles and exposed his throat, “Alpha.” He growled.

Derek leaned down slightly warily, but still accepted his uncle’s submission. However unlike the bite that Stiles had received, this time Derek sunk his sharp fangs into his uncle’s neck. Blood was soon dripping down Peter’s neck and he could feel the Alpha power draining away from him, and couldn’t restrain the whine of grief as it left him. Even as he whined a hand took his and squeezed comfortingly, he easily recognised Stiles’ hold and gratefully accepted the comfort of his mate.

Derek could feel the Alpha power that Peter was giving up flooding into him and it was stunning. The power was flooding into his system, his strength increasing, his hearing becoming more acute and his sense of smell grew stronger and he had never felt better. As soon as he felt his pack bond to Peter snap sharply back into place he pulled back from Peter and lent back releasing a powerful howl.

Derek’s alpha howl echoed in the alley and both Stiles and Peter could feel the increased power of it. Peter’s howl soon rose up in support of his Alpha and Stiles was grinning manically as the richness of the pack power and bonds flowed through the three of them.

Derek was exalting in the new power, enjoying the power flowing through his body and then suddenly he was a wolf. Stiles couldn’t help but giggle at the ‘what the fuck’ expression on the black wolf’s face. Even Peter had to laugh as the wolf that was his nephew pouted. Derek couldn’t control his transformation into a wolf at all, he’d done it a couple of times by accident since they had performed the moon ritual, by didn’t have any control over when it happened. Derek snarled at his beta’s, irritated at their amusement, but as he sat listening to their laughter he realised that this felt different from the previous times it had happened. This time the shift felt more natural, more controlled and after barely a moment of trying he flowed effortlessly back into his human form.

Peter smirked at his nephew, “Looking good Derek.”

Derek looked down and took in the scraps of fabric on the ground and cursed. He was naked as his clothes had been torn to shreds by his involuntary transformation. He stalked to his car, luckily he kept a spare set of clothes in his car, and ignoring Stiles’ giggles and Peter’s cackles yanked on his clothes.

The ringing of Stiles’ phone broke their laughter and Stiles’ clumsily attempted to pull out his phone only to send it flying across the deserted car park. Even as Stiles went to start moving towards it, it stopped ringing, so he walked to the car with Peter’s assistance and crawled into the backseat. Peter fetched the phone and brought it to him. As he rung his father back, he watched as Derek knocked on Kestrel’s door, accepted the relieved hug that the woman gave him, and spoke to her for a few minutes before the door closed again. Derek leaned down and scooped up the bag that Stiles had dropped at the door and headed back to the car.

“Stiles?” His father demanded as he answered the phone.

“Hi dad.” Stiles was tired, but managed to reassure his father that he and the other two were alright.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Stiles was curled up in his bed, buried under his blankets trying to ignore the world. It had been three days since the Alpha Pack had made the dual attacks on the Pack, three days since he had killed someone. It was also three days since he had been able to have any time to himself. Either his dad or one of the wolves had been at his side continuously, more than not it was a combination of both. Peter and Derek had been curled around him for the first 24 hours, only leaving to go to the bathroom, while Stiles’ dad had been bringing food in for them.

Although Stiles was aware that both wolves had been shaken by the events as well and they had been taking comfort from his and each other’s presence. Peter had been shaken mostly because he had made the choice to submit to Derek and voluntarily give up his newly gained Alpha power, it had been difficult because he did truly desire to be an Alpha. However he was also very aware that he was not ready to have that power in his hands, that he still had a lot of healing to do before he would trust himself.

Derek had been shaken by the sudden increase of Alpha power that he had gained from Peter’s submission to him, and as a direct result of that he had been having trouble maintaining his human form. This had given the Sheriff a fright the first time he had witnessed Derek spontaneously shift into a very large wolf and then back again, but now the Sheriff just rolled his eyes when he saw it.

Stiles had been slightly amused at his father’s fright, but it was removed as most of his focus was on his magic. Since he had used his Spirit gift to kill Ennis, it had been roiling wildly inside him. Initially he had hoped that it would settle, but after three days it had done the opposite, growing stronger and wilder and Stiles knew he was going to have to do something to resolve the problem.

He could feel that his magic was unsettled and imbalanced and was fairly certain that he needed to restore the unbalance he had caused with his magic. However he was having problems in coming up with something that could equal the taking of a life, so far his ideas were either lacking or outrageous. He knew that his aunt would probably be able to give him some advice, but his instincts were telling him that he had to come up with an answer on his own. And she had made it very clear to him that when it comes to magic that your instincts are the best guide you have.

He wiggled slightly in his bed, alone for the first time in days, then slowly climbed out, as it had become obvious that lying around in bed wasn’t helping him. Plus he desperately needed a shower. He stretched out the kinks in his body, then shambled down the hallway, noticing the soft laughter and noise from downstairs, and into the bathroom. He turned on the shower to his preferred temperature, almost boiling, and looked in the mirror as he waited for it to heat up. The first thing he noticed was the black flecks in his normally amber eyes, but strangely the black didn’t look out of place or wrong. His skin was pale unlike its normal warm tan colour and his lips redder, and it was enough for him to be making snow white comparisons. He smiled at the thought, but the resulting smile was sharper and wilder than usual, his teeth were slightly sharper than normal human teeth. He blinked in surprise and leaned in for a closer look, then pulled back and taking in his overall appearance was slightly worried. He looked fey and almost inhuman, he just hoped that once his magic was once again in balance he would go back to his normal appearance. He sighed and got undressed climbing into the shower, knowing that nothing could be done right now.

He luxuriated in the heat of the water pounding his skin and felt his body relaxing from its tightly wound state. As his body relaxed his mind began to wander and he wondered how everyone in the Pack was. He knew that Peter and Derek were recovering from the event and that they would be okay, but Isaac and Cora had also been attacked. They had both joined him, Peter and Derek in his bed for a quite a few hours over the last three days, taking comfort from their Pack. He had also heard his father’s comforting voice over the last few days and knew that he would have been looking out for all of the Pack, helping them come to terms with the attack and the results. Isaac was still jumpy around violence towards his person, a result of the years of abuse he had suffered and Cora’s greatest fear was losing her Pack again. When he had been heading towards the shower he had heard Erika’s voice downstairs, and where Erika was Boyd was. He had also heard Jackson’s sneering voice so he guessed both Lydia and Danny were downstairs as well. So presumably the entire Pack was downstairs and everyone would be taking comfort from being surrounded by their Pack.

As he was thinking about his Pack, his mind wandered to Paige and he staggered at the possibility. Paige was dead, but not completely gone, and he wondered if he could… but no, that couldn’t work. For one he had no idea of how he could do it and secondly he wasn’t sure if he should. Bringing someone back could have a huge repercussions, and he didn’t know if it would actually throw the balance out further, making his situation worse. He sighed dejectedly, to be honest that had been the only idea that he’d been able to think of that might be able to redress the balance, and he had no idea if it would even work. 

“I wish I could.” He sighed aloud.

“Do you really?” A masculine voice asked and Stiles squawked in surprise. He was no longer standing naked in the shower, instead he was wearing a light tunic and standing in front of a throne. The room was cold, but not uncomfortable, although Stiles had the feeling that for anyone else it might be. There was a man lounging on the throne but Stiles’ eyes were drawn to the two hounds lying in front of the throne.

“Ohhh puppies.” He crowed and the two hounds raced over to him enthusiastically, he was kneeling on the ground scratching their heads before he knew it and they were snuffling and licking him happily.

“Not many people have that reaction to them.” The man’s voice was deep and Stiles could feel it in his bones. He looked up at the man on the throne still patting the hounds.

“Why not, they’re such good dogs.” He looked back at the hounds, “Who are good puppies, you’re good puppies, yes you are.” He cooed at them. 

And the man laughed, “Come, my pets.” 

Stiles pouted at the hounds headed back to the throne. Then still on his knees he inclined his head, “My lord.”

“Ahh, so you do know who I am.”

“My mother told me stories about you.” Stiles smiled softly at the memory of being curled up next to his mother while she wove stories around him.

“Yes Claudia would have. Do you know why you are here?”

Stiles shrugged, “I guess it’s because of my magic.”

“Yes. Do you know what you did?” His voice was darker now and Stiles could feel the heaviness of the room.

“Something I shouldn’t have.” Stiles looked at his hands, his voice musing, “I let my magic guide me, when I should have been guiding my magic. But…” He looked up at the man on the throne and meet his eyes for the first time, “my instincts didn’t tell me it was wrong, only that I would have to balance my action.”

“Indeed young Maelgwyn. Do you know what you are going to do to restore the balance?”

Stiles shook his head and climbed to his feet, beginning to pace in front of the throne. “Everything I have considered doesn’t sit right with my instincts.” The man sat and considered Stiles with a judging look. “Fine I thought of one thing that might, but I don’t know if it would be the right thing to do, for her or for the balance.”

“Good you are considering the things you must.” His voice was approving. “Have you asked her?”

Stiles shook his head, “No I just had the idea and haven’t had the chance to speak to her.”

“What would you ask?” His voice was now encouraging.

“I’m not sure.” Stiles stilled and tilted his head in thought. “How does one ask if someone wants to be alive again?”

“Stiles?” Paige’s confused voice made him spin and he took in Paige, who was standing at the entrance to the throne room, she was clothed in a white floor length dress with a golden torc around her neck and looked rather confused at her presence.

“Paige.” Stiles greeted and grabbed her in a tight hug as soon as she was in reach. He kept his arms around her and after flicking a quick look at the man on the throne, “What would you give to be alive again.”

Paige moved away from him, so that they were no longer hugging but facing each other holding hands. “Nothing, I’m already dead.” She smiled sadly at him, “I lived my life and as short as it was, and as much as I missed out on, I’m dead now and there’s nothing that can be done to change that.” She was calm and accepting of her fate.

“And if it was a gift?” Paige’s eyes went wide and she dropped to her knees as the man on the throne spoke. 

“My lord.” She was stunned, and tugged at Stiles pants to get him to kneel. Stiles grinned at her, but stepped away from her tugging hand and Paige could only stare at him with wide, scared eyes.

“What would I need to do to give her this gift?” He asked carefully, his eyes shrewd and thoughtful. For nothing is given without price.

The man shifted so that he was sitting upright on his throne and the temperature of the room dropped, so that Stiles could see his breath. “Give me your hand young Maelgwyn.” His voice was cold and empty of emotion.

Stiles swallowed nervously, but stepped forwards. He ignored Paige’s protesting cry, and placed his hand into the man’s outstretched hand, knowing that this was a test of his resolution. An icy cold surged through his body and he cried out in shock, but surprisingly not in pain. It should have hurt, the cold should have burnt his skin and frozen his blood. “Do you trust me?” Stiles shuddered as the voice echoed in his bones.

“Of course,” Stiles swallowed and followed his instincts dropped to his knees with bowed head, “My life is yours to do with as you wish, Gwynn ap Nudd, Lord of the Underworld.”

Comforting laughter made him relax, so when he felt foreign magic inside him he allowed it to flow through his body without protest, eventually it curled around the area where his Spirit magic was roiling wildly and with a gentle touch it soothed the magic and tugged softly, guiding it into a form that Stiles could see, but not understand. Stiles felt his magic activate and do something, he didn’t know what. 

When he opened his eyes he was alone except for the hounds that were curled around him, “So where’s your master?” He scratched their heads and admired their red ears. He uncurled from his knees and lay on his back on the ground, huffing lightly as one hound lay it’s head on his stomach, and the other placed its head on his shoulder. He lay there for an unknowable period, until footsteps caused him to tilt his head upwards. He took in the smiling face of the man now standing above him.

“My lord.” He greeted without moving.

“I’m tempted to send a puppy back with you.”

“Ohh, that would be awesome,” then Stiles frowned. “Do they like werewolves? Because that could be a deal-breaker.”

The man laughed, “They are just like normal dogs, so they like some werewolves.” He considered Stiles a strange glint in his eyes, “You know that most people are terrified of them right?”

“Because they’re are part of the Wild Hunt?” Stiles sounded unconcerned still patting both the dogs.

“Yes, because they are part of the Wild Hunt. And vicious killers.” Although they didn’t look much like vicious killers at the moment, considering how calmly they were snuggling up to the boy.

“Where’s Paige?” Stiles asked curiously, finally sitting up.

The man cocked his head to the side, “She’s safe.”

“Alive?”

The man smiled, “You’ll know soon enough.” Stiles clambered to his feet and patted the protesting dogs softly. “I’ll be seeing you again Maelgwyn.” His voice was gentle and Stiles bowed extravagantly as he felt himself fading in to the darkness.

“Can’t wait Grandpa.” Stiles found himself standing alone in the shower, with laughter echoing in his ears.

* * * * *

Stiles felt much better now. He got out of the shower after quickly washing his hair and body, wrapped a towel around his hips and bounced down the hallway to his room. He entered the room with a wiggle and a spin only stopping as he took in the alpha werewolf sitting on his bed.

“Obviously you’re feeling better after your shower.” Derek sounded pleased.

“Yup. Alive and well.” Stiles reached into his dresser drawers and pulled out clean underwear, a green t-shirt and a pair of jeans, then dumped them on the bed next to Derek. Just as he was about to move away Derek grasped his hips and shifted him so that he was standing in-between Derek’s spread knees.

“Good, I was worried.” He ran his hands up Stiles’ body and into his hair then gently pulled his head down closer to his own. Stiles braced himself by resting his hands on Derek’s broad shoulders and allowed himself to be moved. Derek looked closely at his eyes, “Well the black marks in your eyes are gone, so that’s a good sign at least.”

“That was my magic, or well one of the consequences of using my magic.”

Derek scowled, “How did you get rid of them, I didn’t sense you using any magic?”

Stiles was silent for a moment, contemplating how to tell Derek what had happened. “I had some assistance.”

Derek growled at the non-answer, but Stiles ran his hands soothingly over his shoulders and expanded his answer. “Did you know that most Sparks have a divine lineage?” Derek shook his head in confusion wondering how this was important to the current discussion. “Well they do, most of the time the divine ancestor is from generations and generations ago, but for some lines it is closer in time.”

Derek groaned in despair, seeing where it was going now, “How far?”

Stiles laughed sheepishly, “Well I think either my grandfather or great grandfather.”

“On your father’s side.” Derek stated with a frown.

“Well no.” Stiles drawled, “My mother’s side.”

“So what about your fathers?” Derek shook his head, “Wait never mind, how is your divine ancestor related to how you got rid of the black in your eyes?”

“Well, while I was in the shower he offered to give me a hand at using the excess magic to redress the tilt in the balance that I created when I used magic to kill Ennis.”

Derek growled threateningly and pulled Stiles closer, his hands sweeping over Stiles skin checking to make sure he was okay after having had a visit from a god. “Are you alright?” He demanded.

“I’m fine.” Stiles was cheerful, his magic was calm and settled and he felt normal again. “It was a vision, not an actual visit.” He reassured the slightly panicky werewolf, “He helped me work through an idea and then implement it safely.”

“What did you do?” Derek demanded, although his touch was softer and calmer at Stiles reassurance.

“I suspect you’ll know soon enough.” Stiles smiled gently and then leaned down, his hands gently cradling Derek’s face, and placed a light kiss on his lips. Derek immediately deepened the kiss, his tongue sweeping into Stiles mouth demanding his surrender and with a moan Stiles surrendered submissively into his kiss. Derek dominated the kiss and Stiles was swept into a whirlwind of sharp hot desire. Stiles was abruptly twisted and found himself flat on his back on his bed with Derek pressed against him. Stiles arched into Derek’s possessive hold on him and dragged his nails down Derek’s back, scratching hard enough to draw blood briefly before the scratches heal and drawing an aroused growl from Derek. 

His mouth released Stiles’ and moved to latch onto Stiles’ arched neck and he bit down hard enough to leave a mark, while being careful not to draw blood. Stiles whined in pleasure as the pain hit his system and he arched into the solid weight of Derek’s body, pressing his towel covered erection into Derek. Derek grunted at Stiles’ actions and ground down in response. 

They writhed against each other, the friction and touch of the other’s body pushing them closer to orgasm. Stiles could feel the possessive marks that Derek was leaving on his body, caused by roughly roaming hands and biting mouth. Derek shifted down Stiles’ body and sunk his teeth into Stiles’ nipple, the result of which was Stiles giving a choked off moan, his body going arching and going stiff as his orgasm rushed through his body. Derek grunted as he thrust his erection into the sated body of the young man below him and soon let out a moan as he followed Stiles over the edge.

Derek collapsed on top of Stiles, who lifted his heavy exhausted arms to wrap them his neck, fingers digging into Derek’s hair. “I think I need another shower.” He commented and Derek huffed a laugh out.

“I think we both need a shower.”

* * * * *

After Stiles had taken another quick shower he went downstairs to be met with bright smiles from most of the pack, a leer from Peter and a scowl from his father. 

“What happened to ‘not until after I turn 18’?” The Sheriff demanded.

Stiles smiled innocently at his father, “No clothes were removed.”

“You were fresh out of the shower, you weren’t wearing clothes.” The Pack was looking back and forth between Stiles and his father.

“Alright, no towel was removed.” Stiles grinned and then moved to give his father a tight hug. He father squeezed him back and Stiles knew that they were alright and that his father had been very worried about him.

After his father released him, Stiles was buried under a pile of bodies as Cora, Isaac, and Erica leapt on him. He hugged them and accepted the quick face rubs as the wolves scented him. As soon as he was freed by them Boyd reeled him in and rubbed his cheek against Stiles and then stoically accepted Stiles enthusiastic hug and coo of “I knew you loved me.” Lydia stepped up and quickly hugged him, while Danny and Jackson nodded at him. Stiles smiled at them and knew that Jackson hadn’t hugged him because of his problems, but was slightly curious as to why Danny hadn’t.

Peter reeled him in then and wrapped Stiles tightly in his arms from behind so that his hands were resting just above Stiles waist and he placed a light kiss on the side of Stiles neck, right over the bite mark that Derek had left. Stiles rested comfortably against him and then questioned the Pack about the last few days.

“It’s been pretty quiet actually,” Isaac answered. “But Derek thinks that they will spend the next little while rebuilding their forces.”

“Especially since the pack is now down to just Deucalion and Kali.” Lydia continued. “We need to figure out the possible ways they’ll rebuild.”

“So any missing people?” Stiles asked his father, jumping to what seemed to him as the obvious answer.

“Nope, and I’ve been keeping an eye out. We’ve had no reports of anyone disappearing.” His father understood exactly what Stiles was getting at.

“Huh, why are were worried about people going missing?” Jackson demanded.

“Because that’s the easiest way to rebuild forces.” Peter drawled, “Make more werewolves, but it’s unlikely that anyone that gets bitten will have a missing person report opened.” Stiles and his father nodded.

“Because the Alpha’s have been in town long enough to identify people who will be happy to try and take out the Pack.” Lydia stated.

“That is what I’ve been thinking.” Derek spoke from the doorway.

Isaac looked worried, “So what can we do?”

“Nothing. We have to keep training but otherwise we wait.” Stiles spoke with Derek and Peter nodding in agreement.

“So movie?” Erica asked, interrupting the resulting silence, “I noticed that you have the Star Trek reboot and I want to see it.”

The Pack all agreed and within a few minutes the entire Pack as well as the Sheriff were in the lounge, popcorn bowls on a variety of laps and drinks in hand. Stiles was sprawled across Derek and Peter on the loveseat, with Cora sitting between Derek’s legs her back resting on the couch. Erica, Boyd and Isaac were sprawled on the floor in an uncomfortable pile of limbs, in contrast to Lydia, Jackson and Danny who were sharing the other couch in a rather formal manner, although Stiles did note that they were all touching one another. His father was quite happily seated in the recliner, because Stiles had allowed him to have butter on his popcorn.

They were about 40 minutes into the movie when the doorbell rang. Stiles wiggled out of the grip that both Peter and Derek had on him and quietly went to open the door.

“You are a jerk.” Was the first thing he heard. The naked young woman on the other side of the door stated angrily. “I’ve been lost in the preserve all this time and you didn’t come looking for me.”

As Stiles gaped at the girl, the wolves watching the movie had perked up and looked towards the door. Derek was scowling as he followed his uncle to the door, something about the voice was familiar.

“Here hold this.” She shoved the small thing she had been carrying into Stiles arms. “I want a shower, some clothes and then you will be feeding me at least one large meat lovers pizza.”

She stepped passed Stiles into the house and into the view of Peter and Derek. Who both made small noises of shocked protest. “You’re looking pretty good for a dead girl.” Peter managed to spit out. 

She looked him up and down, “You too Zombiewolf.”

By this point the rest of Pack and Stiles’ dad were standing crowded into the door looking confused by the sight of the naked teenager. 

“Paige?” Cora asked completely confused, it had been years since she had last seen the other girl, but she would never forget what Derek’s mate looked like.

“Hi Cora.” Paige greeted as if it had been days since they had seen each other, and not years since Paige had died. “Maybe I should have the clothes first?” She murmured to Stiles, who nodded, handed the small thing back to her, pulled off his t-shirt and then they exchanged handfuls.

“You’re supposed to be dead.” Cora stated shoving her way into the hallway and closer to where her uncle and brother were still standing in shocked stillness. 

“Well,” She drawled and turned to look at Stiles who was starting to look rather sheepish. “Somebody made a deal.”

“Hey that’s not true. There was no deals involved.” He protested. 

His father cleared his throat, “Maybe you should explain then.”

“Well. Umm. I used my magic in a way it’s not really supposed to be used and that’s why I was kind of out of it for the last couple of days.” Everyone bar Derek nodded. “So while I was in the shower trying to figure out what to do I had an idea.” Paige smiled brightly at the people watching. “But I didn’t know how or if I should do it. But then I was talking to someone who offered to do it and I said yes and they used the magic to do it and well tada.” He nodded at the grinning teenage girl.

“And then boom I wake up in the middle of the preserve and have to walk here buck naked, because you didn’t come looking for me.” Her hands rested on her hips and she glared playfully at Stiles.

“Would you believe that I forgot about you?” Stiles smiled and stepped closer to her.

“Hell no you little shit, I bet you just wanted to see if walking naked through town would embarrass me.” She punched his shoulder.

“I hate you interrupt your flirting, but maybe you could explain who she is and why I should care?” Jackson stated bluntly.

“Whoops sorry. I’m Paige Krasikeva and Ennis killed me seven years ago.”

Isaac and Erica gave her friendly little waves, while Boyd nodded. Jackson, Lydia and Danny kept looking at her waiting for the rest of her explanation.

“And she’s my mate.” Derek finally managed to speak, his voice croaky and broken. Paige finally turned to look at him for the first time since she had arrived and her mouth curved into a soft, loving smile.

“Hi baby.” She walked up to him and they stood just shy of touching, well until Stiles gave her a solid shove with his hip and she lurched into Derek’s arms. Derek buried his face in her neck and inhaled deeply and Peter knew that it was probably time to give them some privacy. So he started herding everyone back into the lounge, the Sheriff soon echoing his actions. 

Stiles slid into the lounge and just before shutting the door turned and called out gently, “Go upstairs and use my room if you need to.”

He turned back to face the room and couldn’t help but blush at the incredulous looks that the room’s occupants were giving him. “What if they all going to have sex, it should be in a place a bit more comfortable than the entranceway floor.” 

Peter laughed at the comment, while Stiles father’s head thumped into his hands.

“How are we going to introduce Paige, Stiles?” His father complained, “She’s been dead for seven years, still looks exactly the same as she did and her body was seen by a number of different people.” 

Suddenly the bundle in Stiles’ arms wiggled and gave a sharp bark, drawing everyone’s attention. Everyone froze as they stared at the small animal, then Peter asked his voice shaky, “Is that what I think it is?”

“Maybe,” Stiles scratched the small puppies head. It was a tiny little thing with white fur and little tufts of red fur on its ears.

“It’s adorable,” Erica cooed. But a strong grip on her arm prevented her from moving, and she followed the hand up to Boyd’s face which was blank.

“Is that a Cwn Annwn?” Boyd asked.

“Yup. I’m guessing he’s a gift.”

“A gift?” Peter asked. “From who?”

“The same person who helped you out with resurrecting Paige would be my guess.” Lydia spoke sharply. “Is it dangerous.”

“Of course not.” Stiles’ scoffed answer came at the same time as Peter’s murmur of “killing machine.” Which caused a great deal of confusion within amongst the Pack.

“Please tell me you didn’t make a bargain with Gwyn ap Nudd, Stiles?” His father asked defeated, he like Peter and Boyd had recognised the breed of dog.

“I told you already it wasn’t a deal.” Stiles was still stroking the puppy, who had rolled around and was rumbling in pleasure as Stiles’ fingers petted him. Stiles cocked his head as his fingers encountered a collar around the puppy’s neck, and he explored it until he found the small cylinder attached to the collar. He pulled the cylinder off and then placed the puppy on the ground so he could open it. The puppy ignored Erica’s coos and encouraging hand movement, instead making its way on unsteady legs to Peter, who looked down at it in horror that soon gave way to reluctant amusement as it pawed at his leg and gave him sad eyes that were remarkably like Stiles’ and he reached down to gingerly pick it up. It settled happily in his arms and he stroked it as he watched Stiles open the cylinder.

The cylinder was like the Tardis, much larger on the inside than the outside and Stiles began to pull paper from it. Piece after piece came out and soon there was a small pile of paper on the table. Everyone settled back into the various couches around the room and watched Stiles as he quickly read the papers.

“So the puppy is called Gwydion. And Paige is my cousin, daughter of my mum’s brother, who passed away recently and is now living with us.” The Sheriff groaned, but Stiles continued ignoring his father, “She’s 17 and,” Stiles cheered, “we’re birthday twins, so she’ll be turning 18 next week as well. Her birth certificate, passport and bank account details are all here. Oh and school transfer papers.” 

“But I don’t want to go back to school.” Paige whined from the doorway, where she was standing with Derek wrapped around her.

“Too bad young lady, I can’t have a child of mine drop out of school.” The Sheriff’s voice was muffled from his hands but clearly understandable to everyone.

Everyone gaped at the Sheriff and his almost casual statement, except for Stiles who sniggered.   
“Poor dad,” He and Paige looked at each other and grinned slightly evilly.

“Crap there’s two of them.” Isaac sounded disbelieving.

“I guess that explains why Derek was attracted to Stiles.” Erica smirked, watching Paige carefully to see how she would react. Stiles pouted dramatically, while Derek’s face stayed blank.

“Who wouldn’t be attracted to Stiles?” Paige blinked at Erica, a confused expression on her face, “He’s delicious and knows how to treat a lady.”

Stiles was nodding in agreement, but his response was interrupted by his father.

“No. I don’t want to know. Erica stop trying to provoke your Alpha. Stiles stop teasing everyone and you young lady.” He pointed at her, “You will be sleeping in the spare room tonight and then tomorrow we will decorate it for you.” Derek opened his mouth to protest, “Derek you may stay here tonight, but I don’t want to hear anything, according to the law she is 17 until next week so keep it in your pants.” Derek nodded silently in acceptance. “Right I’m going to bed, good night everyone.” The Sheriff stood and left the room to a chorus of goodnight’s from the Pack.


	20. Chapter Twenty

Stiles arrived at the loft with a loud commotion, mostly caused by him tripping through the door. Both Derek and Peter looked up with barely concealed smiles.

“I hate school.” He stated with purpose, then looked at the two men pointedly waiting for them to ask why.

Derek looked at Peter telling him silently that it was his turn to deal with Stiles’ dramatics.

Peter sighed, “Why do you hate school?” Peter nodded in greeting at Paige, Cora and Isaac who slipped in the door behind where Stiles was standing hands on hips.

“Because all day it was like ‘got another girlfriend Stilinski?’. Then it was like ‘If you want a real man sweetheart I can give you a hand.’ What is wrong with people?” Peter stepped up and gave Stiles a hug.

“Poor baby. Do you want me to kill them?” Peter cooed to him.

“No there will be no killing.” Derek cut that off. Both Peter and Stiles pouted at him, Derek rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around Paige, tucking her under his chin. “No.”

“Well, I could maim them.” Peter offered.

“No, no maiming either.”

Stiles patted Peter on the face comfortingly with a free hand, thanking him silently for his offer. “I think dad would be annoyed by that. Just cheer me up.” Stiles looked coyly up at Peter through his eyelashes.

“No sex in my loft.”

“Man you’re being a real killjoy today Derek.” Stiles whined, as he leaned down to scoop up the tiny puppy that had appeared at his feet.

“You would be too if the Sheriff had cornered you in the supermarket and threatened you that if he found out that either his son or niece had sex while at your house he would hunt you down and skin you alive.” Derek replied grumpily, ignoring Stiles’ cooing as he greeted his puppy.

Paige and Stiles exchanged looks and then started to laugh. Paige had been living at the Stilinski house for a few days now and it was a constant surprise to her about the Sheriff’s instant and continuous acceptance of her into his home. He had been nothing but welcoming since her arrival, he had redecorated a room for her, found out her favourite foods and taken her clothes shopping, all the while ignoring the lurking presence of Derek who had barely let her out of his sight.

Stiles in contrast had been completely unsurprised by his father’s actions, he knew that his parents had always a daughter to go with their son. So Paige fitted that. And Stiles had quite happily accepted her as a pseudo sister, ignoring the incestuous overtone that was part of their relationship because of the sexual attraction between them.

Tonight was the first night that his dad had let them sleep out of the house and it was only because he had an overnight shift at the station that he wasn’t willing to get someone else to cover. So Paige and Stiles were staying at the loft in the care of Derek and Peter, because the Sheriff knew that the two men would protect both his children, even if they were dating.

The mood was fairly casual for the afternoon, with the four school-going students doing their homework. Stiles was doing his own while simultaneously assisting the others with various pieces of their homework, Cora and Paige with their maths, and Isaac with his chemistry. Stiles was the first finished and after scooping up the puppy snoozing on his foot went to bother Derek and Peter who had been quiet planning on the other side of the loft. The map they had been working with showed Beacon Hills and it’s surrounds and was covered in a number of marks. 

Stiles studied it for a moment and noticing the coloured marks on the map. “What are the different marks showing?” Stiles asked curiously as he leaned against Peter, who wrapped an arm over his shoulder.

Derek tapped the first mark, “Blue are where the Pack members have seen an Alpha, red is where there have been fights.” 

Stiles nodded, “Green?” 

“That’s the information we have been getting from your father, his deputies and their families.” Derek replied. “And the yellow is where we have picked up a scent but not confirmed the presence of an Alpha.” 

“And these?” Stiles asked cautiously tapping an orange mark, having noticed Derek’s reluctance to explain those marks.

“Those darling boy, are where the hunters have either seen or encountered an Alpha.” Peter remarked slyly.

Stiles was quite impressed with the details on the map, especially because there was information from the hunters, he was curious who had gathered that information. “Who got that information?” He asked cautiously.

Derek grunted and Peter explained, “Your hunter friend’s James and Reynold brought it round.” Stiles restrained a giggle at the unimpressed look on Derek’s face. Stiles instead reached over and patted the man on the shoulder, Derek snapped playfully at his hand and Stiles laughed out loud.

“Poor Alpha. Having your den invaded by hunters.”

Derek sighed, “It’s worse than that, they brought a letter from the female council of the Argent Clan.”

Stiles made a questioning hum, ignoring the werewolf snickering silently into his neck.

“They wish to thank the Hale Pack for their care of the Beacon Hills territory and the letter made vague insinuations about the possibility of some of the Argent clan families moving to the area.”

“Oh boy.” Stiles was quiet for a few minutes contemplating the possible consequences of that. “Did you have to give them a reply?”

Derek shook his head, “The hunters just dropped off the information and the letter, then left. The letter included contact information if I wanted to get in contact with the female council with any queries.”

“Have you had a chance to speak to Chris about it?” Stiles queried carefully, knowing the tension between the two men was still there, even if they were getting on better.

Derek shook his head, “No, not yet. Once I’ve had some more time to think about it, I’ll get in contact with him.”

The benefits of having some of the Argent Clan families residing in the territory could be huge. It would mean that Derek would be in an almost unassailable position as the Alpha. As the Argents were one of the strongest hunting families and having their vulnerable members living in his territory, would show that they believed Derek to be a strong Alpha and able to protect his territory, however it would also mean constant surveillance of his and the Pack’s actions. Stiles was very glad the decision would be up to Derek and not him.

Soon after their chat, while Derek was staring broodingly at the map and Stiles and Peter were sitting on the floor playing with Gwydion, Paige, Cora and Isaac finished their homework and began to complain of hunger. Stiles got up with a sigh and looked in the fridge. He spotted enough ingredients to make a large lasagne and ordered various people to carry out different tasks in preparing it. With everyone taking part it didn’t take long for the lasagne to be in the oven cooking. While it was doing that Derek, Peter, Cora and Isaac practised doing wolfie things and Stiles and Paige started playing with their magic.

Stiles was pacing around the room a trail of ice following his movements, creating a large intricate pattern on the floor which he then activated. The resulting light show made everyone in the room stop and smile, as illusionary wolves frolicked and played in an illusionary forest. Paige was growing flowers in the pots that Derek had set up for her around the loft, and soon the room was smelling beautiful as the flowers bloomed.

When the lasagne was almost ready Paige tossed together a salad and Stiles set the table for the six of them. In the few days since her resurrection Paige had bullied Derek into buying a huge table so that loft would have somewhere for the Pack to sit and eat as a group. Therefore the table could seat a dozen comfortably, and even more if they squished together.

As soon as the food was on the table the wolves descended and the lasagne was consumed with great delight. The wolves reluctantly taking some of the salad at Paige and Stiles’ prompting.

The dinner mess was cleaned up by the wolves while Stiles and Paige began rearranging the TV area for a movie. They shifted couch and the beanbags, which had appeared in the loft at the same time as the table, into good positions in front of the 60 inch TV that had also arrived with the table. Once the wolves had finished tidying up everyone settled down in the available seats. Derek, Paige and Peter were on the couch, while Isaac was on a beanbag leaning against Derek’s legs and Stiles and Cora had pushed together two beanbags and were sprawled together leaning against Peter’s legs.

They watched the first of the movies that Stiles and Paige had picked, but after the second started it didn’t take long for the youngest of them to drop off. Cora had curled up next to Stiles and was soon snoring lightly from her position her head tucked into Stiles neck and Stiles’ arm over her shoulder. And once she had dropped off Stiles followed soon after, hugging her like a teddy bear.

Stiles woke up once during the night needing to pee and had to fight his way out of the sprawling mass of werewolves. Once he came back he smothered a giggle. You would expect Derek to be snuggling with Paige, but he was curled up on his side with Isaac tucked into his arms, with Cora curled up in a tiny ball against his back. Paige was sprawled out with plenty of space, and as Stiles was watching Isaac stretched out a leg into her space and she made a threatening noise causing Isaac’s leg to instantly retreat. 

Peter had woken and was watching Stiles with glowing blue eyes from his position close to Cora, and he smiled sleepily at Stiles who started crawling back onto the bed making for the gap between Peter and Cora where he had been. But even as he moved Cora uncurled and rolled over to snuggle into her uncle. Stiles grinned at the now pouting Peter, who although disappointed that Stiles could no longer curl up with him made no effort to push Cora away. So Stiles instead crawled up to Paige and ignoring her little growls wrapped himself around her back and drifted back into sleep.

* * * * *

Two days later Stiles’ 18th birthday started with a bang, literally as his father slammed his door open with a shout of happy birthday, causing both Stiles and Paige to flail and fall out of the bed.

“Dad, why must you do that?” Stiles complained as he untangled himself and sat up.

“Because it amuses me so. Happy birthday the two of you.”

“Thanks Mr Stilinski.”

“Uncle John remember.” The sheriff chided Paige gently. “I’m going to make pancakes for just the three of us, before you get caught up in party preparations.”

Stiles and Paige cheered before both making a break for the door, causing the Sheriff to take a step back and watch with amusement as the two of them pushed and shoved to get to the shower first. Paige won, as she managed to make Stiles fall over and then leapt agilely over his prone form and into the bathroom they shared. 

The sheriff snickered at his son who rolled over onto his back, “Girls are evil.” Stiles stated, before clambering to his feet and staggering back to his room. The sheriff headed down stairs still laughing to himself to make the pancakes.

Twenty minutes later the three of them were sitting at the dining table happily eating the pancakes. Stiles and Paige were focused completely on their plates, while the Sheriff ate his own watching contentedly as his two children seemed to be competing to stuff as many pancakes as they could down their throats. Eventually they both sat back at the same time and the Sheriff cleared his throat.

“Right congratulations somehow the two of you managed to survive, or sort of survive until your eighteenth birthdays.” Both of them smiled brightly at him, “And so I have presents for the both of you.”

Paige’s smile faltered, “Mr Stilinski, you didn’t need to do that.”

The Sheriff eyed her seriously, “Paige, I welcomed you into my home and into my family happily. Claudia and I always wanted more than one child, and you are sadly exactly what the two of us expected, absolutely crazy, trouble making and just like Stiles.” Stiles was grinning like a maniac and nodding at his father’s words.

“Now hush and let me give you your present.” Paige’s eyes were bright with unshed tears, which both Stiles and his father pretended not to notice. The Sheriff held out a small box to her and she accepted with hands that shook slightly. 

She opened the box and gave a soft, “Ohh,” and pulled out a sparkling necklace. It was a generously sized ruby set in a delicate and intricate Celtic knot on a long gold chain. Stiles could also see a small crest on it and knew that it was the Stilinksi crest.

“It is for you so that you know we will always be your family and you will always have a place here.”

Paige nodded, not able to speak.

The Sheriff turned to his son and held out another small box. Stiles took it and opened it to the sight of two matching rings. The ring was made up of a number of small gold, silver and platinum threads, weaved into a complex band, and Stiles recognised them as his paternal grandparents wedding rings.

“Dad.” Stiles protested.

His father cut off his protests with an upraised hand, “Stiles, my mother told me I was to give them to you on your 18th birthday and I’m not going to disobey her instructions.” He smiled sadly, “Just give me a little while longer before you use them.”

Stiles grinned shakily, then smirked slightly, “Do you think I should give Peter grand mama’s ring?” One of the rings was smaller than the other and far more delicate looking.

All three of them snickered slightly at the visual of Peter wearing the obviously feminine ring.  
The front door opened and the three of them looked towards the doorway, knowing it had to be someone welcome in the house otherwise the wards would have protested. Derek strolled into the kitchen and froze as he was welcomed with three intensely amused gazes.

“Good morning?” Derek sounded wary.

“Morning Derek,” the three of them chorused, causing Derek to be more wary.

“I’m here to take you guys out shopping.” He stated with absolutely no enthusiasm. Paige stood, and gave him a kiss on the cheek, “Ohh sweetie that sounds so nice.” She smiled at him, “I’m guessing Peter told you to take us out.”

Derek grunted in agreement, “He wants you both to have new outfits for tonight.”

Stiles and Paige both left to grab their things, and the Sheriff started clearing the table and Derek went to help. “So you’re supposed to keep them occupied for the day.”

Derek nodded.

“How long do you think it will take them to pick an outfit?” The sheriff asked curiously.

“Half an hour at most.” Derek stated. 

The sheriff nodded in agreement. “What else are you going to do?” 

Derek dried the dish that the Sheriff handed him, “Paige needs a car.”

“SO you’re going to take them car shopping?” The sheriff sounded incredulous.

“Why? Should I not?” Derek sounded slightly nervous.

“If you think Paige will accept a car from you.”

Derek smiled slightly, “I already asked her if she wanted one, I wouldn’t just buy her a car.”

“Good idea son.” The sheriff clapped him on the shoulder.

“I was thinking that I might also take them both to get laptops.” Derek’s tone was questioning and the Sheriff knew that if he objected then Derek would find something else to do.

The Sheriff thought about. Stiles did need a new laptop, and he also knew that the Hale’s weren’t hurting for money at all. He also knew that Stiles would be using it for Pack things, like the database that he was secretly trying to put together.

“They’d probably quite like that.” He chuckled, “Far more than the clothes shopping anyway.”

They both looked to the stairs as Stiles and Paige came thumping down.

“Have fun kiddos.” The sheriff gave them both quick hugs and then sent them on their way. He watched them from the front door as they climbed into the cayenne and then drove off waving.  
Derek had been correct in his estimate of how long it would take the two of them to pick out new outfits, however they more than made up for it in how long it took them to select new laptops. Much to Derek’s surprise when they arrived at the car dealership Paige made a beeline for a car as soon as they stopped, he had thought it might take a bit longer for her to find the car she wanted. It was a gorgeous blue Shelby mustang and Stiles was unsurprised by her choice. The car was fast, sexy and very similar to Derek’s. Stiles and Derek watched with amusement as the salesman almost fell out of the car, when Paige drove back into the lot after a test drive. The bright grin on her face only grew as Derek paid for the car, while Paige danced around it.

“So,” Stiles drawled as Derek came to stand next to him to watch as Paige poked and prodded inside the car, while the salesman finished up the paperwork, “Can we head to the loft now?”

Derek grunted, “You knew?”

“It wasn’t hard to figure out that it was your job to distract us today.” Stiles replied. “But I’m getting a little bored now.” Stiles rocked on his feet, “So unless you want to buy me a car as well…”

“I would if I thought you would take it.” He said, both of them knowing that Stiles would never willing give up his jeep, because it had been his mother’s and one of Stiles most treasured possessions.

Derek’s phone buzzed and after looking at the message he spoke, “We can head over there now if you want to.”

“Yay.” Stiles cheered and bounced over to Paige. He leaned into the car and spoke to her for a moment as the salesman handed Derek the car’s paperwork and extra keys. 

Paige settled properly into her new car, pulled her seatbelt on and started it with a roar.

“She’ll meet us at the loft.” Stiles said. They stood and watched as she peeled out of the car lot with a squeal. “You did get insurance right?” Stiles asked dubiously, Derek nodded silently and then pushed Stiles into his car.

By the time Stiles and Derek got to the loft, Paige was showing off her car to the Pack members that were at the loft. Isaac and Cora were exploring it thoroughly, making excited noises and Stiles knew that both of them were secretly hoping to get cars for their birthdays. Peter was also by the car, but was instead smiling at Paige as she hung off his arm rambling about her new car and and it’s stats. When the two of them drove up Stiles could almost read the badly hidden desperation in his eyes, so Stiles bounced over to the two of them and managed to distract Paige by pointing at Isaac who was now crawling around inside the car, opening everything he could find. 

Paige narrowed her eyes and stalked over to protect her new car.

“So why did you get Derek to take us shopping?” Stiles asked curiously as Peter tugged him into his side and slung an arm over his shoulders.

“I had some things to do for your guys party tonight.”

“Like what?” Stiles was curious.

“Please Stiles, if I wanted you to know I wouldn’t have sent Derek over with instructions.” He narrowed his eyes at his nephew who was watching Paige with devoted eyes. “Did you at least get a new outfit?” He sighed, and Stiles knew that he was expecting Stiles to say no.

“Yeah, it was the first stop we made.” Stiles hummed with amusement as Cora scuttled over towards them, escaping the wrath of Paige. 

“Happy birthday Stiles.” Cora cried as she slammed into him and gave him a tight hug, Stiles could only squeak in reply.

“Careful Cora, he does need to breath.” Peter chided gently.

As soon as she released him Stiles dramatically started taking exaggerated breathes, “Thanks Cora,” he gasped out. Then squeaked again and clutched his arm when she punched him. “Birthday boy abuse.” He pouted and turned to Peter with huge eyes, “Aren’t you going to defend me Peter.”

“Bad Cora.” Peter drawled, making no move towards her and she cackled before leaping away from Stiles as he grabbed at her. They watched her leap and then snickered as she slammed into Derek making the both of them tumble into the ground. Cora leapt off her brother as he snarled, eyes glowing red, and she sprinted into the building, Derek chasing after her with a vicious sounding growl.

Paige skipped over to them, ignoring her growling mate, having succeeding in protecting her car. Stiles watched curiously as Isaac waved and shouted a happy birthday before he ran off down the road.

“Where’s Isaac heading off to?” Stiles asked Paige curiously.

“He said he’s going to help the terrible trio with more party prep.” Paige chirped in reply.

“Just how big is this party going to be?” Stiles wondered aloud.

Peter shrugged not entirely sure, but answered with his best guess as he picked up on the underlying hint of nerves in Stiles’ question. “Lydia made the guest list, but Derek put limits on the amount of people he would let in his loft. And yes I made sure that the ladies from Jungle were invited.” He cut Stiles’ question off, his answer caused Stiles to beam at him.


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

The music was thumping and Stiles was sitting halfway up the stairs in the loft looking down on the mass of people writhing to music. Far more people than he had ever imagined were at his birthday party and it surprised him how many of them he considered to be friends. 

He had never had many friends as a kid, he had been too loud, too energetic, too crazy for most of the other children. So for a long time it had only been him and Scott, but now he has masses of friends. Not only were there kids from school, even if some of them were at the party because Lydia had put the guest list together, but the drag queens from Jungle were here and Stiles knew that they were all here for him. When they had arrived as a group they had smothered him in kisses and hugs, handing Peter lots of presents for Stiles to open after the party. 

Stiles had also noted a number of Chris Argent’s hunters in the room, and had grinned because they were drinking and dancing and Stiles knew they were here to party not to keep an eye on the werewolves, they had also slipped some presents onto the pile Peter was guarding.

The most important group to Stiles, the Pack, were also here and they were partying hard. As evidenced by Cora dirty dancing with one of the guys from school, who was looking both like Christmas had come early and absolutely terrified, and not far from them were Erika and Boyd who were dancing together. Isaac doing shots with some of the lacrosse team and the terrible trio of Lydia, Jackson and Danny were also dancing. Derek and Paige were dancing over in the corner away from the crowd, but to Stiles it looked a lot more like they were have sex standing up rather than dancing. That pairing had caused a bit of confusion as most of his school mates had thought Stiles was in some sort of complicated threesome with Cora and Paige, but it had become pretty clear that Stiles was in fact dating the attractive older man who hadn’t left Stiles’ side since he had arrived.

Peter nuzzled Stiles neck, interrupting his thoughts, and murmured, “Dance?”

Stiles turned to face him and placed a light kiss on his mouth, then grinning, stood and held out a hand to Peter. The two of them wove through the crowd, Stiles leading Peter by the hand, until they found a spot in the middle of the crowd. Stiles was tugged into Peter’s body, and held close by Peter’s possessive hold on his hips, then as Stiles laughed with delight looking up into Peter’s blue eyes, Peter started to move guiding Stiles to match his movements.

Stiles was grinning in enjoyment as they danced, enjoying the intimate movements. How their hips brushed against each other, then danced away. How Peter’s fingers were brushing the skin at the top of his jeans, soothing, intimate and possessive all at once. The teasing movements of the dance were ramping up the low level arousal that was a constant in each other’s presence. The arousal that simmered in their blood had been building for a while and the knowledge that with Stiles now being eighteen that the arousal could be followed through on was pushing it higher and higher. But for now both of them were enjoying the teasing foreplay of the dance.

Stiles pressed his hips against Peter, a teasing smile on his face, knowing that the wolf would be able to feel his hard cock pressing against him, then he turned in the circle of Peter’s arms and pressed his back to Peter’s front. He rolled his body in time to the music that was thrumming through the loft, grinding his ass against Peter’s hard cock, and laughed in delight at the resulting nip of Peter’s teeth on his neck.

Peter was also enjoying himself, the feeling of his mate playing with him was causing his wolf to howl in joy. He did have to admit that the other thing that was adding to his amusement and delight was the somewhat scandalised looks that their dancing was generating from Stiles’ classmates. Of course those that knew them only rolled their eyes, having seen much worse behaviour from the two of them. Even Argent’s hunters only laughed at their behaviour, however Stiles was oblivious to the disapproving looks, or more likely didn’t care about the opinions of any of the people that were giving them the looks.

Peter nibbled and licked at Stiles’ neck, enjoying the noises Stiles was making in response and how he arched his neck to present Peter with more space to work. He ran his tongue down Stiles’ neck and shoulders, placing possessive kisses until he found the perfect spot and then started to suck. Stiles trembled in his arms at the suction, and Peter noticed the scent of his arousal rise sharply, then moaned in pleasure as Peter allowed his teeth to scrap over the mark he had created. 

Stiles shifted in his arms, turning to kiss him hungrily. The kiss was hungry, messy and demanding as Stiles attacked his mouth, but Stiles surrendered easily to Peter as he took control of the kiss. Peter used that surrender to gentle the hunger, having no desire to let the arousal building between them to peak too early. He wanted Stiles to be desperate and begging for release by the end of the night, to make losing his virginity both memorable and pleasurable. Stiles’ hands slid down to grip his ass and Peter slid a hand into Stiles hair and he jerked Stiles head back harshly. Stiles’ amber eyes were glazed with pleasure as he moaned at the rough treatment.

“I’m going to fuck you tonight, sweetheart.” Stiles keened at Peter’s words and tried to move closer to restart the kiss that Peter had broken, “But only if you’re a good boy.” 

Stiles eyes cleared slightly and he purred, “But what if I want to be bad.” He lowered his eyes and then looked up at Peter through his lashes, “Will you punish me?”

Peter laughed roughly, his own arousal sharpening as his mind generated plenty of ways he could punish his naughty mate, “I’m sure that that’s what you want, but I think that anything I do at the moment, you would enjoy too much to be considered a punishment.”

Stiles pulled against Peter’s grip on his hair so that he could brush a light kiss onto Peter’s mouth, “You’re right. I think I’m so totally wound up at the moment that I’ll come as soon as you touch my naked skin.” He commented lightly but his amber eyes were shining with desperate arousal. Peter after a moment of studying his face, kissed him brutally before he released his grip on Stiles’ hair and dragged him out of the dancing crowd with a tightly gripped hand. At the base of the roped off stairs that led upstairs Peter kissed him harshly, then dragged him up the stairs and into the first bedroom they came across, that happened to be Derek’s.

Peter shoved Stiles harshly through the door, then kicked it shut with his foot. Stiles’ skin was prickling with heat and desire, and he watched with glazed eyes as his wolf stalked across the room towards where he had stumbled to a halt. Peter crowded him backwards, with both body and hands, so that Stiles was on the bed shirtless before he could process what was going on.

“I think we need to take the edge off, sweetheart.” Peter purred as his hands stroked possessively over Stiles’ skin. Peter’s touch on his bare skin caused Stiles to moan encouragingly, and he was only able to focus enough to paw at Peter’s shirt, not enough to actual remove it and he whined in annoyance. 

Peter pulled away briefly to remove his shirt, before taking Stiles’ mouth in a violent kiss. Both men moaned as Peter’s fangs emerged and sliced Stiles’ lip, the swirl of copper adding to the violence of the kiss. Peter finally tore his mouth away from Stiles’ and ignoring Stiles’ protesting whine and grasping hands, swiftly moved down his body laying biting kisses to mark his path. He bit at Stiles’ nipples harshly drawing blood, and Stiles’ could only arch into the bites, keening in desire. He was too lost in pleasure to notice as his jeans were undone and tugged impatiently off him.

Peter purred as he sat back on his heels to study his now naked mate. “Beautiful.” Stiles confused as to why his mate had stopped touching him, and whined as he reached up with desperate, grasping hands to try and pull Peter down into another kiss. Peter allowed himself to be pulled down and kissed Stiles passionately, however he only let the kiss go on for a short while before he pulled away again and let his mouth drift down his mate’s body, biting kisses marking his path until he reached his mate’s hard cock. He looked up and waited for Stiles’ pleasure glazed eyes to meet his gaze before sinking his mouth down to engulf his mate’s cock in his hot mouth.

Stiles’ eyes clenched shut involuntarily as pleasure rocketed through his body, and he could only moan helplessly at the wet heat and suction of his mate’s mouth. His hands sunk into Peter’s hair and his grip was harsh, but as he tried to arch his hips Peter held him down effortlessly with his superior strength. Peter was soon bobbing up and down on Stiles’ cock, stopping occasionally to lick at the pre-come leaking furiously from Stiles’ cock. 

Stiles was moaning brokenly, words only occasionally clear, “Peter… please… so good… love you… Peter…”

Peter could tell by the broken words pouring from Stiles’ mouth that his orgasm wasn’t far off and continued his relentless attention.

“Oh… Peter… good… Peter…” Stiles cried out and his body jerked as his orgasm brutally rushed through his system. 

Peter swallowed his mate’s come and then as Stiles’ managed to open his eyes held his gaze as he licked up the single drip that he had allowed to escape from his mouth. “Delicious.”

“Fuck,” Stiles voice was husky from orgasm, “That was amazing.” He lightly tugged Peter up his body so he could kiss him, tasting himself on Peter’s tongue. He ran his hands down Peter’s body to cup his rock hard cock. “You gave me the best orgasm of my life, so it’s only fair that you get to come too.” He murmured between kisses.

His hands undid Peter’s jeans and pulled out Peter’s cock. Peter groaned as Stiles’ hand slid up and down his cock, he did enjoy the heated touch of his mate’s hand, but he knew that it would be better with some slick. So Peter broke away from the kiss and shifted his upper body away so that he could dig into the top draw of the bedside table and was soon pulling out a bottle of lube. He shifted back to reengage Stiles’ mouth, blindly pouring some of his nephews’ lube into one of Stiles’ hands. The slick feeling of the Stiles’ hand and the tight grip that was now smoothly running up and down his cock soon had him panting as he allowed his orgasm to rise. It wasn’t long until he came with a long moan and shudder. 

They lay there nude and tangled on the bed enjoying the afterglow, well until the door slammed open. They both lifted their heads and looked at the dark haired man now standing in the doorway, “Time to head back to the party birthday boy.”

“Go away Derek.” Peter ordered as he slumped back on top of his mate, who snuggled into him with a happy hum.

Derek laughed and strolled across the room to the bed before he slapped Peter on the ass sharply, “Up. I don’t know most of the people downstairs and have no desire to.” Peter pulled himself reluctantly off the bed and started to redress, watching with amusement as Derek crawled onto the bed and kissed the naked Stiles possessively. When he broke off the kiss, he tugged Stiles to his feet. “Get dressed Stiles, it’s your birthday and you should enjoy your party.”

“Fine. But I protest the interruption.” Stiles pouted as he too pulled on his clothes, the only delay being Derek using a damp cloth from the bathroom to wipe Peter’s cum from Stiles’ skin.  
Then Derek herded the other two back downstairs, where they were met by laughs and barely concealed smirks from the Pack and those who had noticed their disappearance.

* * * * *

The party went on for hours more, but soon enough it was just the Pack in the loft. Luckily it didn’t take long for them to clear out leaving only Peter, Stiles and Derek in the loft. Stiles and Peter were curled up on the couch, with Peter wrapped around Stiles nibbling on his neck with focused attention. Stiles was resting back in Peter’s arms, head lolling to the side encouraging Peter’s attentions with mewls. Derek was standing, arms crossed in front of his chest, just in front of the two of them a smirk on his face as he watched his normally in control uncle practically mauling the newly legal Stiles. He stepped forward so that his legs were close enough so that Stiles should be able to feel the heat emanating from his body and waited for Stiles to look up at him.

“You’re lucky Stiles,” Derek rumbled huskily and Stiles responded to his voice by moaning and slumping further into Peter’s hold, his eyes glazing over completely, “That I don’t mind letting my uncle be your first.”

Peter pulled away from Stiles’ neck to growl threateningly at Derek, who growled and flashed red eyes at his uncle in return. Peter lowered his eyes in submission to his Alpha, but a possessive hand wound itself around Stiles hip and tugged him closer. Stiles felt Peter tighten his grip and blinked his eyes open to look at Derek, a small frown on his face.

“Derek.” He scolded lightly, “Don’t tease your uncle like that.”

Derek smirked at him, “Maybe. What are you going to do to get me to stop?” His voice was a low rumble and Stiles knew that he was aroused.

Stiles lowered his eyes coyly, “What would you have me do Alpha?” He peered up through his eyelashes at the dark haired man in front of him. Stiles was aware of the picture he made, innocent amber eyes peering up at his Alpha, an aroused flush across his cheekbones and his arousal scenting the air.

Derek’s hand shot out and gripped Stiles hair, jerking his head back to expose his throat causing Stiles to mewl and go limp his grip. “I think, pet,” His grip guided Stiles downward onto the floor, “That you should be on your knees when asking me for something.”

Peter released his grip on his mate and watched his nephew manhandle his mate onto his knees in front of the couch, curious at what his Alpha was planning. He dug his claws into his leg, hoping that the self-inflected pain would push his arousal back, and help him maintain his control in the face of whatever Derek was planning. 

He could only hope that Derek would hold to his word of allowing Peter to have Stiles’ virginity, because he was aware that according to werewolf traditions Derek, as Alpha, would be well within his rights to demand Virgin Rights.

Stiles lifted his hands as his knees hit the floor and rested them on Derek’s muscled thighs, kneading slightly as he looked upwards, making sure to keep his neck exposed. “Alpha, I wish for my mate to have Virgin Rights. What would you have to grant me my desire?” Peter lifted an eyebrow, surprised that Stiles was aware of Virgin Rights, but after a moments consideration he decided that he shouldn’t be surprised at all, Stiles lived for knowledge after all.

Derek’s eyes were glowing red, his wolf close to the surface. “Open my pants.” He growled roughly and Stiles immediately followed his orders. His fingers quickly moved and undid the snaps on Derek’s jeans, and slid them down slightly to allow his Alpha’s hard cock freedom. 

Stiles’ eyes widened a little, he had seen Derek’s cock before but never from so close. It was thick and erect and, when after a quick look upwards, he moved his hands to explore it was heavy in his hands. He moved his fingers slowly exploring Derek’s cock with curious hands. Derek’s cock was the first, other than his own, that he had ever touched. He touched Derek’s foreskin and gently played with it, pulling it back to reveal the head of Derek’s cock, he leaned forward and with a teasing look upwards, licked at the precome delicately. He rolled it around in his mouth and enjoying the taste, leaned in to lick up more. Derek groaned and Stiles’ felt his grip tighten on his hair, and couldn’t stop his own moan as the tug of pain shot straight down his spine to his dick. He licked up more precome and then took the head of Derek’s cock into his mouth and sucked gently. He felt Peter slide down behind him so that his chest was pressed against Stiles’ back.

“Suck harder, sweetheart.” He ordered roughly, as he placed a harsh kiss on Stiles’ neck. Stiles was glad that Peter was telling him what to do, porn wasn’t as helpful as he would of thought. He sucked harder and then needing to breath he pulled off Derek’s cock. At Peter’s whispered instruction, swirled his tongue around the head, focusing on the area just behind the head of Derek’s cock. Derek groaned again and tugged on Stiles’ hair again, at Derek’s urging Stiles took his cock back into his mouth and began alternating between sucking and swirling his tongue. 

Peter gently pulled one of his hands to his mouth and laved it generously with his tongue.  
“Use your hands on the parts of his cock you can’t take into your mouth.” He breathed into Stiles’ ear as he moved Stiles’ now saliva cover hand back to Derek’s cock. Stiles followed his direction and began to stroke the parts of Derek’s cock that he couldn’t fit into his mouth. He continued to work Derek’s cock until his Alpha was panting above him. He frowned in confusion as Derek abruptly tugged his head off his cock and Peter gently took his hands entwining their fingers.

“Open your mouth.” Derek’s order was followed and Stiles slowly opened his mouth, “Wider.” He was slightly confused but at the angry growl opened his mouth wide, and swallowed nervously as Derek’s hands griped his hair tightly resulting in pinpricks of pain.

Then using the tight grip he had on Stiles’ hair Derek thrust his cock into Stiles mouth. Stiles choked in surprise as Derek’s thrust sent his cock straight down into Stiles throat. His whine of surprised pain was smothered by the cock blocking his throat, and his movement stilled by Peter’s tight grip. Derek tight hold on his hair and Peter’s restraining grip gave him no hope of getting away, so he forcibly relaxed his body and surrendered to his Alpha.

Derek groaned as he felt Stiles surrender to him and his wolf rumbled happily, then he started thrusting. His thrusts were hard and he was surprised that except for the first thrust Stiles hadn’t choked. In fact it didn’t take long for Stiles to begin to swallow around his cock as it hit his throat and Derek decided to experiment slightly. He allowed his thrusts into Stiles throat to pause for longer and longer times, until finally he thrust and allowed his cock to lodge in Stiles’ throat and stopped there, grunting in pleasure as Stiles’ throat convulsively closed around him and he started to frantically struggle in Derek’s unrelenting grip, trying to get air. Derek groaned in pleasure and without giving Stiles a chance to breath, thrust again, driving his cock further down Stiles throat and enjoying the tears that were starting to run down Stiles face. He pulled his cock from Stiles’ mouth and allowed him to take a deep gasping breath.

“It seems, pet that you like me using you like this.” He murmured taking in the tent of Stiles’ cock and the strong scent of arousal wafting off Stiles. He pulled Stiles’ head back, stretching his neck painfully, “Answer me pet, do you like your Alpha using you?”

Stiles whined and without answering tried to lean forward to take Derek’s cock back into in his mouth. Derek twitched his hips out of reach, before removing one of his hands from Stiles’ hair and striking him across the face. “Answer your Alpha.” He demanded, enjoying the red mark that formed as a result of his hit, knowing that it hadn’t been hard enough to still be there the next day and get him into trouble with the Sheriff.

Stiles was panting in arousal, his whole body flushed with desire. The hit was enough to allow him to drag his wits together enough to pant out an answer. “Yes Alpha, I love it. Use me, hurt me.” He begged.

“Good boy.” Derek praised before drawing Stiles’ mouth back to his cock and brutally thrusting into his mouth again. He shoved his cock down Stiles throat as far as it would go and then started to brutally use Stiles to get off. He enjoyed the gasps and moans coming from Stiles as he thrust into his mouth and it didn’t take long for his peak to hit him and with a harsh grunt he thrust as hard as he could into Stiles’ throat without injuring him and allowed his orgasm to rush through him. When his orgasm was done he pulled out of Stiles’ mouth and enjoyed the sight of his cum leaking out of Stiles’ mouth as Stiles crumpled into Peter’s grip in an exhausted heap. 

Derek languidly redid his jeans and then crouched next to Stiles and laid a gentle hand on his neck, draining some of the pain Stiles was feeling from his rough treatment. “Thank you Stiles.” Stiles smiled dazedly up at him, still aroused from the brutal face fucking. “I’ll be back tomorrow at lunch time with some food.” Stiles stretched up and Derek kissed him lightly and carefully, before releasing him and standing. 

He took in his uncle’s brutally hungry gaze, which was completely focused on the young man on the floor, and frowned slightly. He knew that the two of them had been waiting for this day and that Peter would normally be careful in how he used his mate, but there was little human left in that hungry gaze.

He growled lowly, his eyes bleeding red and tried to catch his beta’s eyes. When that failed he stepped up and grasped his uncle’s hair wrenching his head up to break Peter’s concentration on Stiles. Peter bared his teeth and growled threateningly at him, and Derek noticed the sharpened teeth and bright blue eyes. He growled and snapped his teeth at his uncle, tightening his grip painfully on Peter’s hair until Peter dropped his gaze submissively.

“I was going to leave the two of you alone, but now I’m not so sure.” Derek rumbled, a hint of worry in his tone. Peter looked away ashamedly, knowing that he was the cause of that worry.

“Why?” Stiles’ voice was rough from the brutal treatment.

“Peter is on the edge of his control.” Derek was still holding Peter in his painful hold. Peter just whined in agreement, his hands holding Stiles tightly to his body.

“So?” Stiles shrugged, “I’m sure you’ve noticed that I don’t exactly mind a bit of pain.” 

“I think Peter fucking you dry might result in more than a little pain.” Derek growled, still focused on his uncle red eyed glistening with threat.

“Oh,” was Stiles’ slow drawling response. “Where is your lube?” He asked slowly after a moment. Derek looked away from Peter, to see Stiles’ determined expression.

“In the top drawer of the desk.” He gritted out. Stiles wiggled to escape Peter’s grip, but only managed to escape his tight hold after Derek growled angrily at his uncle, who reluctantly released his hold. As Stiles staggered to his feet and headed for the desk, Peter growled angrily as his mate moved away from him, and Derek shifted to hold his uncle more securely. Stiles dug out the lube and as he headed back towards his mate and Alpha he stripped off his clothes, so that by the time he was near them he was completely naked.

“Can you hold him until I’ve prepped myself?” Stiles questioned as he poured the lube onto his fingers, and reached behind himself.

Derek nodded silently, watching with bright eyes as Stiles stretched himself. Derek could feel his arousal mounting again as Stiles didn’t restrain his gasps of pleasure as he fingered himself and stretched his hole. Peter was growling almost continuously as Stiles worked, and Derek was having to work harder to hold him back. 

“You do realise that as soon as I let Peter go he’s going to be on you.”

Stiles moaned, his fingers finding his prostate, before he breathed out, “Uh huh, I can’t wait.”

“He’s going to be on you and in you.”

Stiles hummed in agreement.

“He’s going to hurt you.” Stiles moaned again, “He’s going to fuck you.” Stiles and Peter were both panting, “He’s not going to stop even if you beg him to.” Peter was straining towards his mate. “Stiles.” Derek’s voice was firm, firm enough that Stiles paused his preparations to look at him. “He’s going to rape you.”

Stiles met his eyes and then with a lopsided smile, pulled his fingers from his ass and turned so that Peter and Derek could see his hole, then he slumped so that his torso was on the floor and his ass up in the air, presenting himself in a perfectly submissive pose. “You can’t rape the willing Derek.”

Derek loosened his grip and his uncle was on Stiles within the blink of an eye and Stiles screamed as Peter rammed his brutally hard cock into his ass hole. Derek moved towards them worried, but stilled as he noticed Stiles rocking to match and encourage Peter’s thrusts and the tender way that Peter was mouthing and kissing at Stiles neck even as he thrust his cock brutally into him.

He let out a relieved breath, then silently slipped from the loft and headed for his car.

Stiles was whining and pressing into Peter’s brutal thrusts. Even in his desperation Peter was managing to nail his prostate with ever second thrust. Peter was thicker and hotter than anything he’d had in his ass before, as he was curious by nature he’d fingered himself and even brought a few toys to play with himself, but nothing came close to the amazing feeling of Peter’s cock pounding his ass.

“Hurt?” Peter forced himself to ask, worried that he was injuring his mate.

“Yes. God. More.” Stiles stuttered out his body jolting with every brutal thrust. “So close, Peter. More.” His eyes closed and he arched up into Peter’s restraining body.

“Mate.” Peter gritted out, his thrusts becoming uneven as his peak began to hit him.

“Mate.” Stiles agreed, “Mine.” His body was starting to shake as his own orgasm hit him.

“Yours.” Peter growled, then he sunk his teeth into Stiles’ collarbone. The abrupt pain of the bite sent Stiles’ headlong into his orgasm and he cried out Peter’s name as his body went stiff. 

The combination of the coppery taste of Stiles’ blood, the clenching of his body and Stiles crying his name flung Peter into his own orgasm and he thrust hard one last time, pushing his cock as far as it would go into Stiles’ body and shaking in pleasure as his cum flooded into Stiles.

He slumped down and covered Stiles, who’s orgasm had caused him to go completely limp. After just a few minutes Peter managed to shift so that he wasn’t crushing Stiles and placed a gentle kiss onto his bite mark.

“I love you.” He murmured to Stiles, who managed to turn so that he was facing Peter.

He gave Peter a gentle loving smile, “I love you too.” His mouth quirked slightly, “Creeper Wolf.”

* * * * *

When Derek arrived back at his loft the next day, he had a bag from Stiles’ favourite bakery in hand. He strode into his building and up to his loft, with a small amount of worry in his mind for the condition he would find Stiles and Peter in. However much to his relief when he entered the loft and followed their combined scents up to his room he found them curled up together in the middle of his bed.

“Derek.” Stiles murmured in greeting, a contented, sated smile gracing his face. Derek crawled up the bed and noted with a little amusement that his uncle hadn’t stirred at his entry.

Derek gave him a soft kiss, “Morning Stiles.” He reached into the bakery bag and handed Stiles a freshly made croissant. Stiles hummed in pleasure as he bit into the pastry. “Did you have a good night?” He couldn’t smell any pain on Stiles, and although he could see many bruises and bite marks littering Stiles’ skin none seemed to be worrying Stiles. His attention was drawn to the large and slightly bloody bite mark on Stile’s shoulder, so they had mated last night. 

Stiles directed a soft smile at the sleeping werewolf in the bed, and stroked a loving hand through Peter’s hair. Peter rumbled happily in his sleep and pushed into the caressing hand. “Uh huh. It was amazing.” Stiles shifted so that he could lean against Derek while still touching Peter. “I know you were worried Derek, but Peter took good care of me.” He nibbled happily on the croissant and Derek kissed his neck lightly, on the opposite side to Peter’s bite.

“I’m happy for you Stiles.” Then he grinned mischievously and booted his uncle in the side, hard enough to push him the bed. He snickered as Peter popped up from the floor growling and in his beta form. “Morning uncle Peter.”

Peter snarled at him angrily, but the growling stopped as Derek tossed him a blueberry muffin, his favourite. “Good morning nephew.” He greeted in a fake happy tone, while still watching Derek with narrowed eyes as he settled back on the bed.

Derek rolled his eyes, “Please uncle Peter, you spent the night getting laid. I spent the night being glared at by the Sheriff.”

“Huh.” Stiles stiffened, “What were you doing with my dad?”

“I got a text last night instructing me to bring myself, Cora, Paige and Isaac to your house to sleep last night.” Derek frowned, “Apparently your father didn’t want us roaming the street. And it had the added bonus of placing me within easy interrogation reach.”

Stiles laughed, relaxing. “Oh poor Derek.” He cooed at Derek, “Did the big bad Sheriff ask you mean, nasty questions?” 

Derek glared at him, and lightly shoved him away so that Stiles’ ended up sprawled in Peter’s lap, “That’s alright Stiles, he’s taking you out for a proper lunch in about an hour.”

Peter smirked at his horrified mate, at least until Derek continued, “That means you too uncle Peter, he was very specific about that.” The smirk fell off Peter’s face and Derek started laughing at the badly concealed horror on his face. “I would suggest that both of you take a shower and that Stiles figures out how he’s going to hide all those marks.”


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

When Stiles, Peter and Derek arrived at the Stilinski House, it was to the sight of Chris Argent’s SUV sitting in the driveway. Both Derek and Peter frowned, but Stiles just climbed out of the car and headed for the house, unconcerned by the sight of the vehicle. He opened the door and toed off his shoes.

“Dad?” He called out.

“In the kitchen, Stiles.” His dad called out.

Stiles headed for the kitchen with the two wolves following close behind. The Sheriff took in the relaxed gait of his son and allowed the coil of nerves that had been in his stomach to dissolve. Stiles was happy, safe and had no visible damage, but the sheriff did narrow his eyes at the way Peter was hovering so closely to him. It was just like Derek had told him it might be, once the young man had been cornered the night before. A mated pair or two people moving towards being mated would be very protective of each other, especially the wolf in the equation. But the Sheriff was pleased when the older man didn’t protest or look at all uncomfortable when Stiles gave him a tight hug.

“I hope you had a good night last night.” He spoke to Stiles, whose grin had a salacious tint to it. “But I don’t want any details.” He narrowed his eyes at the still grinning Stiles, “Ever.”

“I’ll take those details.” Paige piped up from her seat at the table. Isaac and Cora rolled their eyes at her words, they had got to know Paige and weren’t surprised by her words at all, she and Stiles could be twins.

Chris sitting at the dining table with a hot coffee in hand and was trying not to look at anyone, obviously trying to pretend that he wasn’t hearing this conversation. “I have my present for you here Stiles.” He interrupted the standoff between father and son, ignoring Paige’s words.

“Ohh present.” Stiles exclaimed took a seat across from the man, with the two older wolves immediately sitting in the flanking seats. Chris handed him a black case across the table and Stiles immediately put the case on the table and snapped it open. “Oh thank you Chris.” He reached in and pulled out the handgun. He proceeded to check the gun, while Chris explained further.

“I thought that since you are a member of the pack and running with wolves you needed some extra protection. It’s a Glock 22, since your father said you are familiar with them.” Stiles and his dad both nodded.

“Yeah that what dad has and that he taught me to shoot on.” Stiles agreed.

“I’ve also included some extra clips with wolfs bane bullets.” He ignored the quiet growls from the werewolves in the room, as he put another case on the table. “Come by the shooting range sometime in the next little while and I’ll go over the different types with you.” The sheriff frowned a little at this statement. “That means you too Johannes. I’ve also got some bullets for you here, since you’ll probably need them at some point.” Chris slid a small box over to the Sheriff. Chris cleared his throat, and Stiles looked up from the case as he put the gun back into it, “I also thought that I could teach you to shoot a sniper rifle if you wanted to learn.”

“Civilians aren’t allowed sniper rifles.” The Sheriff’s voice was empty of judgement. 

“As a military contractor I have access to them.” Chris replied steadily.

“So you are allowed to have them, but Stiles isn’t.”

“He could if he worked for Argent International.” Chris’s voice was somewhat stilted, as he knew that the Hales would both hate this suggestion. Paige recognised that this was a conversation that she, Isaac or Cora needed to hear and quickly shuffled the three of them out of the room.

And he was right, “Absolutely not, Stiles is not working for you.” Derek’s voice was harsh.

Chris opened his mouth to try and convince him, but Stiles got there first.

“But Derek,” He whined, “If people ask me what my job is I could tell them I’m a legal gun runner.” The Sheriff rolled his eyes at his son’s words, trust Stiles to think of that.

“No. I will not have a member of my Pack working for an Argent.”

Stiles pouted and looked at Derek with big eyes, “But Derek, think of all the guns.”

“I don’t think that’s the way to convince your Alpha, son.”

Stiles, still pouting turned to his father, “You said no details.” He pointed a dramatic finger at his father, “And that’s the only other thing I can think of to convince him.” 

Derek barely stopped himself from face-palming at the statement. But the Sheriff didn’t even bother trying to contain his reaction and just buried his head in his hands.

“He wouldn’t actually be working for me, Derek. It’s just paperwork so that if the Pack needs to it would have access to the guns.” Chris’ voice was calm, as he ignored the both the Stilinski’s behaviour. “And it would be filed and forgotten about, unless it was needed.”

Derek stared at him, thinking hard before finally nodding in acceptance, “Fine.”

“Woohoo.” Stiles cheered, getting up from the table to dance around the kitchen in celebration. While Stiles was dancing, Chris discreetly handed Derek a small bag.

When Derek looked at him in confusion, “Wolfsbane ash mix.” Derek nodded, and carefully handed the bag to Peter who stashed it away.

“Thank you.” He murmured to the man, who gave him an abrupt nod in acknowledgement.

“Stiles I have a couple more things that go with your present.” Chris interrupted Stiles’ celebratory dance. Stiles spun to a halt right next to the man and looked at him expectantly.

“Holsters.” He placed to piles of leather on the table. “Shoulder and hip.”

“Why those two?” The sheriff enquired, ignoring Stiles cooing over how soft the leather was as he stroked them.

“Shoulder is obvious, it’s the easiest place to carry a concealed gun.” The sheriff nodded, “But I know Stiles likes to wear hoodies, and those don’t work with a shoulder holster, so hip holster. It’s not a concealed carry, but if he’s heading into a fight that doesn’t matter.”

Stiles then proved that even while cooing he had still been listening, “So shoulder for everyday wear and hip for fights.”

Chris nodded at his summary, “Can you put them on, I want to check if any modifications are needed.”

Stiles nodded and immediately started putting the hip holster. Once it was on he moved around the kitchen, twisting and turning, bending and reaching as he tested the fit. “That one feels fine.” He commented and Chris and the Sheriff nodded in agreement, Stiles hadn’t had any problems moving. Stiles pulled off the hip holster and then started to put on the shoulder holster. However much to the amusement of the watching men, he almost immediately managed to get tangle up. “Ah… Help?” He squeaked and his laughing father came over to untangle him and then help him put on the holster properly.

* * * * *

A few days after Stiles birthday, he and Derek were upstairs in Stiles’ room doing some more research about where Duke and Kali could be hiding out. Neither had been seen since the night when over half the Alpha pack had been killed. Stiles was busy on his computer contacting and co-ordinating replies from a variety of Packs and magical leaders around the country, trying to find any patterns or information that could help them.

While he was doing that Derek was sprawled out across Stiles’ bed with a map of Beacon Hills spread out in front of him. He was marking it to show where the Pack and Chris’ hunters had already looked, while at the same time using another colour to mark the places that he thought the two Alpha’s might be hiding. Earlier he had been looking through the list of missing persons that the Sheriff had supplied them with, but Derek had given up on that as he was pretty sure that anyone the Alpha’s chose to bite wouldn’t end up on that list, as they would be chosen from the dregs of society and not be missed. 

He also had a list of enemies of Pack members on the bed as well for consideration. He had been surprised by the amount of the enemies his Pack members had, but after Stiles had pointed out that the Pack was mostly made up by ass-holes he had reconsidered. And he had been totally stunned by the small list that his uncle had given him, Peter had only rolled his eyes at his surprise and pointed out that he was disinclined to let any enemies live or ever be in a position to be dangerous to him.

Stiles’ list was the longest, because he had also gone through and listed people who might be after revenge on the Sheriff and therefore his family. His main defence at Derek’s pointed look was to point out that he was an annoying little shit who tended to stick his nose into other people’s business on a regular basis.

“I’m bored, so very bored.” Stiles cried after a couple of hours of work, spinning dramatically on his desk chair. “I’m not getting anywhere, just going in circles and I hate it.”

Derek grunted in agreement, he had been mostly napping for the last hour anyway. Stiles pushed his chair away from the desk and then stood and stretched. Derek allowed his gaze to take in the strip of skin that was exposed and when he looked up it was to meet Stiles amused eyes.

“You know I’m 18 now. You can touch.” Stiles sounded amused, but there was heat in his eyes and his body language was inviting.

“Well I can’t if you’re over there, can I?” Derek’s voice was light and teasing.

“I suppose.” Stiles sauntered over to the bed, squealing as Derek abruptly pulled him down onto the bed. As soon as he was on the bed Derek rolled them so that he was braced over Stiles, a grin on his face.

Stiles smiled up at him, “What are you gonna do now, Sourwolf?”

“Should I eat you up little red?” Stiles’ eyes went wide and then he started to laugh.

“Please tell me you didn’t tell me just make a red riding hood joke?” Stiles gasped out between laughter.

“Maybe.” Derek grumped. Stiles managed to stop laughing and reached up and ran a hand through Derek’s hair comfortingly.

“Don’t worry Sourwolf. Even with the bad jokes, you’re still hot.” Derek snapped his teeth at the amused young man underneath him. It was a sign of how comfortable Stiles was with Derek that he didn’t even twitch in fear, nor did any hint of fear enter his scent. “Now I think there was mention of touching?” He asked coyly, blinking his eyelashes at Derek exaggeratedly.

Derek grinned at his action, “There was.” Derek sat back so that he was straddling Stiles’ thighs and gently ran his fingers over Stiles’ upper body grinning at the resultant twitching. He slid his hands up under Stiles’ flannel shirt and carefully peeled it off, with Stiles’ enthusiastic assistance. Derek gently pushed Stiles back down with a hand on the chest, Stiles was now wearing only a light t-shirt covering his torso. It was thin enough that Derek could make out Stiles’ nipples and moles through it.

“Are you going to wreck me?” Stiles asked with a sly smile.

Derek’s green eyes had grown dark with lust and he ran his hands over Stiles’ torso. While his hands roamed Stiles’ chest, they deviated to tweak his nipples and Stiles jerked and moaned. As Stiles writhed under his hands, making encouraging noises Derek divested him of his shirt, whispering huskily into Stiles’ ears as he did so, “I’m going to destroy you.”

Stiles couldn’t restrain his shudder of lust, and willingly followed Derek’s manipulation of his body, so that Stiles was positioned just as Derek wanted. Stiles was now reclining on his back, propped up slightly on his pillow with Derek straddling his upper thighs. Derek was still fully dressed while Stiles was only wearing his jeans, which added Stiles’ feeling of being under Derek’s power. 

Derek leaned in and nipped at Stiles right nipple, resulting in a sharp gasp and Stiles’ bowing up into his mouth. To soothe the sting of his bite he laved it with his tongue and then proceeded to alternate between Stiles’ nipples, until both were puffy and red and Stiles’ fingers were sunk into his hair, tugging with every bite. Derek leaned back, ignoring Stiles’ protesting whine and tugging hands, and surveyed the young man in front of him. There was a red flush across Stiles’ cheekbones and a glazed look in his eyes, so he smirked and stayed still until focus returned to Stiles’ eyes. 

As he regained focus Stiles pouted at Derek, “Why did you stop?”

Derek’s smirk turned wicked, “I’d hate for you to miss anything.” He leaned down again and peppered light kisses up Stiles’ neck ending at his ear. Stiles’ was enjoying the attention from Derek, it was different from the previous interactions they’d had. Without any indications Derek suddenly changed tack and sharply bit down on Stiles’ neck, and Stiles moaned in pleasure, knowing it would leave a mark.

Derek could smell the sharp increase in Stiles’ arousal as he bit him and mused to himself that his uncle had been correct, Stiles definitely appreciated a touch of pain with his pleasure. Derek bit Stiles again, and then again, leaving a trail of bites in a ring around Stiles’ neck and then he moved down Stiles’ body, alternating between sucking marks onto his skin and harsh bites that stopped just short of drawing blood. Stiles was writhing as pleasure flooded his body, his movements restrained by the tight grip Derek had on his hips, however Derek was making no effort to stifle the moans and whimpers that Stiles was making. So the room was echoing with the frantic noise Stiles’ was making.

“Stiles? Are you alright?” Stiles and Derek froze, then both turned to the door as it opened to reveal the Sheriff.

“Dad.” Stiles protested, flushing red in embarrassment.

The Sheriff’s eyes went wide as he took in the sight of his son looking rather debauched, with marks all over his torso and neck, being straddled by Derek. “Shit Stiles.” He moaned in shock, spinning to face out the door, “Why didn’t you tell me to not come in?” He groaned.

“I didn’t really have a chance.” Stiles protested as Derek slowly slunk off him to sit on the side of the bed. Stiles quickly shrugged on his t-shirt, which Derek handed him having scooped it up from the floor.

“I was calling you for a couple of minutes before I came up.” The sheriff stated.

“Sourwolf, why didn’t you hear him?” 

Derek shot Stiles a sour look, “I was a bit distracted Stiles.” He snapped back.

“Never mind,” the sheriff cut off the potential argument, “I just wanted to ask if you wanted anything in particular for dinner?”

“No pizza.” Stiles demanded with narrowed eyes as he stared at his father.

“Fine, but we’re getting Thai.” The sheriff met Stiles’ stare with his own, then before Stiles could protest he narrowed his eyes dangerously, “I think I should be allowed since I’ve now seen more of you than I ever wanted to see.”

Stiles nodded sulkily in agreement, “Fine. I’ll have that beef noodle thing.”

“Derek?” The sheriff asked.

“Umm, can I get something spicy with chicken and rice?” Derek replied hesitantly. The man had seemed okay with his son’s unusual relationship with the two Hales, but Derek had been unsure how he would react when confronted with the physical reality. He was relieved to discover that although he could smell some embarrassment in the Sheriff’s scent there wasn’t any anger or disgust.

“Of course, I expect both of you full dressed and ready to eat when the food arrives.” His voice was gruff as he turned and headed downstairs.

“Ummm,” Stiles ran a hand through his hair as he turned to look at Derek, “Oops.” He shrugged sheepishly at Derek, “I didn’t think he was going to be home for a while.” Derek nodded in acceptance of Stiles’ statement. He hadn’t thought the Sheriff was going to be home either, otherwise he would never have started anything with Stiles. He stood and tugged Stiles into his body.

Stiles moaned in enjoyment as Derek took his mouth in an aggressive kiss. They kissed for a few minutes, until Stiles pulled away with a frown, something obviously occurring to him. 

“Wait.” Derek raised an eyebrow in query, “Dad’s shift isn’t due to be over until 11 o’clock tonight.” Stiles looked down and towards the lounge, where Derek could hear the TV was on. “I wonder…” Stiles trailed off heading to the door in a rush, “Dad, why are you home early?” He demanded loudly as he dashed down the stairs. 

Derek just rolled his eyes before following. He wasn’t at all surprised to be left behind so that Stiles could interrogate his father.  
 


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

One morning a few days after Paige and Stiles’ combined birthday when the Sheriff, Paige and Stiles were sitting down for breakfast before heading out for the day, the doorbell rang. They exchanged confused looks and looked at the clock, it was 7:30 in the morning, who would be calling at that time of morning. Eventually after a number of pointed looks Stiles climbed to his feet and headed to answer the door.

When he pulled it open he spoke around the piece of toast in his mouth, “Uncle Sean?” The large red haired man grinned and wrapped his arms around Stiles in a tight hug, pinning his arms at his side and his feet dangling in the air.

“Nephew.” He placed Stiles back on his feet when he squirmed. “Where’s your smile for your uncle?”

Stiles grimaced playfully at the man, “How can I smile if I can’t breathe.” Then he grinned brightly, “Hi uncle Sean, how are you?” 

The sheriff arrived at the door at this point, “Sean,” he held out a hand. “How are you? I’m surprised to see you considering Natalia was here only a few weeks ago.”

Sean shrugged as he stepped into the house, “I was busy then, and now I’m not.” It was now that Paige stepped into view, “Well I wasn’t.” He added looking a Paige, an intense look in his bright blue eyes.

Stiles picked up the tone in his voice and moved quickly so that he was standing defensively in front of Paige, who looked nervous.

The sheriff cleared his throat, “Maybe we should move into the kitchen and I’ll make you a coffee Sean.”

Sean took his eyes off Paige and accepted the offer of coffee from his brother-in-law. “Sounds good Johannes and then I’ll tell you why I’m here.”

Stiles grasped Paige’s shaking hand, “Come on, it will be fine.”

She tugged him closer and slightly away from the two men heading for the kitchen, “He’s a necromancer Stiles.” Her voice was unsteady, “What if sends me back?”

Stiles hugged her reassuringly, “Nothing like that will happen, it’s not up to him. It’s up to Gwyn ap Nudd or I suppose me.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, “And I will protect you.”

They cautiously moved into the kitchen and slid onto chairs opposite Stiles’ father and uncle. Sean watched them his bright with curiosity. 

He took a sip of coffee and then spoke, “Right first thing. I’m not here to send you back sweetheart.” Stiles relaxed at his uncle’s words. His uncle would never break his word. Paige slowly relaxed as well, taking her cues from Stiles. “I’m here because a couple of people reported a large necromantic working, and the Council wants to know what it was.” He smiled at Stiles, “I’m guessing it was you and she was the result?”

Stiles shook his head slowly, “Sort of.”

“Sort of?” What do you mean oh nephew of mine? Either you did a ritual and brought her back to life or someone else did.” Sean raised a bushy eyebrow.

“Well I was sort of involved. I mean it was my magic, but I didn’t bring her back to life.” Stiles replied, clutching at Paige’s hand.

The sheriff rolled his eyes internally at his normally articulate son. “How about you just tell Sean what happened son.”

Paige spoke for the first time, “Gwyn ap Nudd.” When all three males turned to look at her she cleared her throat and then continued. “It was him, he resurrected me using Stiles’ magic.”

“Well damn.” Sean spoke after a long moment of silence, “The Welsh underworld god brought you back to life?” When Stiles and Paige nodded in unison he groaned. “Well that changes things.”

“How?” The sheriff enquired.

“Well normally in a situation like this with an amateur necromancer and a resurrection, we would sit down and discuss with the necromancer the reasons why we avoid resurrecting the dead and how it upsets the balance and so forth, then we would examine the resurrected person and decide if they are viable long-term and then figure out the best way to deal with them.” When all their eyes went wide with the finality of that he quickly elaborated, “Whether that is relocating them, or giving them a cover story to explain what they’ve been doing, or at a last resort sending them back to the grave.”

“So what will you do in this case?” Paige asked still clutching Stiles’ hand.

“Well I highly doubt that you’re going to have any problems with viability as you were created by an expert, and I’m pretty sure you have a decent story about your origins by now?”

The sheriff nodded, “Claudia’s niece, with papers provided by Gwyn ap Nudd.” 

Sean’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, “I’ve got to admit, I thought any paperwork would have been supplied by the local Pack, but that sounds better.” Stiles grinned at his uncle, knowing his aunt Natalia would have told him about the Pack.

“So the only thing to do now is to ask if I can examine you magically.” Sean’s blue eyes were serious.

“What will you be looking for?” Paige asked. Stiles for once was silent knowing that the decision was completely up to her.

“I would be looking for any information that might be helpful in future cases of resurrection, anything that might help stabilise victims and so forth. It is also a requirement for me to be able to sign off at the council to ensure you don’t get any further visits.”

Paige nodded and looked into her empty mug. The three men sensed she needed some time to consider her decision and luckily a distraction came in the form of a small puppy tumbling into the room.

Sean’s eye widened as he identified the dog’s breed. “Where’d you get the Cwn Annwn?” 

“There’s my baby.” Cooed Stiles as he scooped up the tiny puppy. “Uncle Sean, I’d like to introduce Gwydion. He was a gift.”

“A gift?” Sean spluttered, “From who?”

“Really Uncle Sean, who do you think would give me a Cwn Annwn?” Stiles asked, rolling his eyes at his uncle.

“Gwydion arrived with Paige.” The Sheriff elaborated, “All her paperwork came in his collar.”

Paige cleared her throat, gaining the attention of the men. “Okay, you can examine me.”

“Excellent.” Sean beamed at her and she found it hard to see this cheerful, friendly man as a dangerous necromancer. For she knew that he was otherwise he would never be sent to deal with amateur necromancers, let alone rogues, which she had noticed he hadn’t mentioned at all.

He lead her into the lounge so that they would be comfortable, with the Stilinski’s trailing behind them both consumed with curiosity. They settled comfortably on the three seated sofa, one at each end of the sofa seated cross-legged and facing each other. As they settled and Sean reached out to gently touch his fingers to Paige’s face, one hand resting on each of her temples. Stiles shifted on his feet, feeling his uncle’s magic surface, but knowing better than to interfere. His father rested a gentle hand on his shoulder in reassurance, knowing that Stiles was worried about Paige, whom he had grown was very close to in a short amount of time.

It wasn’t long until the two on the couch stirred, and opened their eyes. Paige looked peaceful and calm, but Sean looked somewhat awes and startled.

“You forgot to mention that you’re a Guardian.” Sean stated steadily.

Paige shrugged, “I didn’t know it would make a difference.”

Sean eyed her, then turned to look at Stiles questioningly, “What? I didn’t know either.”

Sean sighed, “Okay, are either of you aware that a Guardian’s magic is different from other magic users?”

“Well, I would have thought so, considering it is intricately tied up with their site.” Stiles replied as Paige nodded in agreement.

“Yes that’s true. A Guardian’s magic is linked to their site and they find it difficult to use magic for other things.” Paige and Stiles exchanged looks, they hadn’t noticed that. Paige had been happily using her magic on gardens and plants all around the neighbourhood, in fact the houses are the Stilinski home all had fabulous gardens as the earth around Paige absorbed her leaking magic.

“Ahh, really?” Paige eventually spoke, sounding dubious.

“Yes,” Sean replied, “They are rather notorious for it.” He looked at the three others in the room, “I’m guessing that’s not the case here?”

The sheriff sighed as neither of the teenagers spoke, “Here.” He handed Sean a flowering pot plant from on top of one the tables in the room. “She grew that yesterday.”

Sean accepted the plant, “So you made it bloom?” He examined the plant.

“No, she grew it from a seed.” The Sheriff replied.

“Right,” Sean muttered as he examined it, before looking at Paige, “Was it difficult?”

“No.” Paige sounded confused as to why the man was asking that, “I just thought the Sheriff would like a plant, so I grew one.” She shrugged, “I didn’t have any problems.”

He placed the plant down on the floor, where it was quickly picked up by the Sheriff and placed back on the table where it had been. “How many of those do you think you could grow at once?”

Paige shrugged, “Enough that I don’t think I would ever do that many at once. I have enough to do with helping the earth in the preserve to heal and stabilise itself after years of neglect.”

Sean scrubbed at his face, “This isn’t my area of expertise, but how have you been doing that?”

Paige shrugged, “I’ve been walking in the preserve, following my instincts to the damaged parts and helping them to clear the rot and the disease. The Nemeton has been helping because it wants its territory to be healthy.”

“So the Nemeton is supplying you with power.” He stated.

“Yes, but not only the Nemeton, I’m also getting power from the Pack and the residents of the territory.” Paige sounded matter of fact. “The Pack wants the forest to be healthy so that they have plenty to hunt and the residents want it to be healthy because it’s more fun to walk and explore the area if it’s pleasant.”

“So how do you gather power from that?”

“’Gather’? I don’t gather power, it’s just there I just guide it into a useful form.”

“Can you explain how you do that?” Sean asked intently.

“Maybe?” Paige thought about it, “It would depend on who I was explaining it to. Other Guardians with similar gifts to me, easily, but anyone else…” She shrugged then continued, “I think it would be difficult. Do you have someone in mind that needs help?”

Sean nodded, “In Alaska there’s a new Guardian who inherited a site, which has been decimated by its residents. She’s been calling for any help and advice the Council can give her but so far no one has been able to help her and the entire area is looking like it’s about to collapse.”

Paige nodded, a look of sympathetic pain on her face. She had felt that pain of helplessness before she had met Stiles. “Do you want me to talk to her?”

“Well, yes that would be a good start.” Sean grinned in relief at her easy offer of assistance. “Do you know how far you can go from the Nemeton?” He asked delicately.

“I went to San Francisco a week ago.”

“What. When?” The Sheriff demanded.

“Derek wanted to take me on a romantic trip, so we went last Saturday.” Paige answered casually. “You were working and Stiles and Peter were having a chess tournament.”

The sheriff grunted in acceptance at her answer, “Next time let me know beforehand please.”

“Of course Uncle Johannes,” she bounced over to him and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“So you got to San Francisco without any problems?” Paige nodded at Sean, “Did you feel any draw or pressure to come home?” 

“No. Derek did, but I didn’t.”

“Derek, as in the local Alpha werewolf? Are you dating him?” Sean queried.

“No, we’re mated.” Paige replied happily.

“How long have you been mated?”

“Seven years, I think.” Stiles nodded in agreement.

“How?” Sean demanded in confusion.

“Oh, well. We mated before I died.” Paige supplied.

“Didn’t your death sever the bond?”

“No. I think the Nemeton protected it.”

“So you were the Guardian before you died.” Paige shook her head in denial, of his statement.

“I became the Guardian of the Nemeton at the moment of my death.” Paige looked away. “My sacrifice allowed it to grasp my soul and keep me there. It’s where I was while I was dead.”

Sean nodded and decided to leave what was an obviously sensitive topic, “So you didn’t have any problem being away from the Nemeton?”

“No.” Paige looked at him shrewdly, “You want me to go to Alaska, don’t you?”

Sean looked abashed, “Yes. It’s rather desperate situation and I think it would be better if you could show her how you work rather than trying to tell her.”

“I’ll have to discuss it with my mate.” Was Paige’s answer. Sean nodded in acceptance and Paige left the Stilinski’s to entertain the man while she had a conversation with her mate.

A few hours later Paige came back with a happy demeanour and let Sean know that she would be happy to go to Alaska and teach the new Guardian her skills, obviously Derek agreed to her leaving. Privately Stiles thought Derek was relieved to get Paige out of the reach of the Alpha Pack and potential death. After dinner that evening Sean and Paige headed off, leaving Stiles and his father with a vague sense of surprise at the speed of which the decision and then departure had been carried out.

* * * * *

“Ohh for goodness sake, Stiles.” His father exclaimed. “Not again.”

“Maybe you should learn to knock.” Stiles sassed back as he sat back so he was no longer kissing Peter.

“I don’t mind whatever,” He flapped his hand instead of naming the relationship, “you’ve got going on with the Hales, but I object to constantly finding you and them in compromising positions.”

“Compromising positions?” Stiles squawked. “It’s just kissing.” While Stiles and his father were arguing Peter was trying to surreptitiously wiggle out from underneath Stiles so he could escape the family argument, but his movement was stalled by Stiles tightening his thighs where he had Peter pinned.

“I don’t think that what you two were doing is ‘just kissing’.” Stiles’ father replied cynically. “You’re topless, and I can see hickeys and bite-marks on your chest. That is not just kissing.”

Stiles blushed and pouted, “It’s not like we were having sex.”

Peter rolled his eyes as he lay underneath Stiles, it was at times like this that Stiles showed his age. “I apologise Sheriff Stilinski, I’ll try to restrict where our active takes place.”

The sheriff was eyeing him strangely and Stiles had his head cocked in confusion. Peter watched with growing concern as the two of them remained silent and just stared at him. But he could smell the scent of amusement slowly permeating the air. Stiles was the first to started laughing, almost immediately joined by his father. Peter pouted as the two of them laughed, not appreciating it at all. 

“Oh Peter, just call me Johannes.” The sheriff, Johannes, gasped out between laughter, “You do realise that I don’t actually mind seeing the two of you kissing, I just like teasing Stiles.”

“Yeah Peter, it’s just teasing.” Stiles leaned down and pressed a light kiss to his lips, “No need to feel offended.”

Peter pushed Stiles off him and stood. He scooped up his shirt and stalked out of the room, “I don’t have to put up with this.” He could hear the two of them burst out laughing again as he left the room and smiled to himself. He was extremely glad of Johannes acceptance of both his and Derek’s presence in Stiles’ life, and happy because the man truly loved Stiles and that their relationship hadn’t been damaged by the secrets that Stiles had been keeping.


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four

Peter was lounging on the couch at Derek’s loft watching with interest as Stiles laid out a number of materials onto one of the tables that were in the loft. Stiles had taken advantage of the large amount of space available at the loft and had taken possession of some of that space to set up a magic space for himself. When Derek had complained that the loft was his and asked why he wasn’t doing that in his own home, Stiles had rolled his eyes and told him that his father could not be trusted to not touch. Peter hadn’t been able to stop a sarcastic comment about how the puppies of course wouldn’t touch. Stiles had only looked at him and bluntly said that the puppies would heal.

So Derek had shuffled the so-called puppies out of the loft and down to the preserve to do some training, leaving Peter, Cora and Stiles in the loft. Cora had smirked at the other werewolves as they had whined in complaint and settled down with a book in front of the windows taking advantage of the warm sunlight. 

Stiles had directed Peter in rearranging the loft so that he had a clear space for his lab, and then after he was satisfied he started to prepare for the ritual he was planning on doing. Of course, just to irritate Peter he had refused to give any information about the ritual or what was the aim of it. 

So Peter was watching with interest as Stiles set up what was obviously an altar. There were a number of things Peter recognised from his own magical workings, beeswax candles, bowls of water and earth, an incense censer, but there were also somethings he didn’t recognise, bottles of liquids and dried herbs and, the most interesting one of all, a dark stone that seemed to absorb light. The final things Stiles placed on the altar were a sharpie and a wood inscribing tool.

Stiles settled down sitting comfortably with crossed legs in front of his altar. When he took a deep breath, Cora peeked over her book at him joining Peter in watching with curiosity. When Stiles started to cast his circle both of them immediately felt the magic rise and build in the room. Cora grew bored quickly and went back to her book when all Stiles did was chant and gesture, calling the elements and setting up a protective circle. 

After all his protections were set up, Stiles opened the bag that was sitting next to him and started pulling out knives and Peter began to wonder just how many knives Stiles had in the bag. There large machetes, small dirks, needle thin knives, throwing stars and knives, some that Peter didn’t even know the purpose of. 

Stiles had decided to make weapons his first major enchanting project. He had spent a lot of time researching the best way to do it, and his conclusion was to start with blades as their shape doesn’t change when they are used. It meant that the runes he would be using to hold the enchantment would hold it for longer. In the future Stiles would like to enchant the metal as it was being forged, but that was a difficult project that he knows he needs more experience before tackling. 

He selected a small, sharp dagger and carefully used the sharpie to mark the runes onto the knife, as he did so he focused his will and his magic on the concepts that the runes represents, steady hands, calmness of mind and true aim. When he was done he breathed out, deeply relieved because all his research had talked about etching the runes into the blade, but he had used a sharpie because it was easier and did require a lot of practise. But his worry was for nought as the blade in his hands had accepted the enchantment without any problems. He inspected the knife carefully and noticed that the sharpie ink seemed to have sunk into the metal and when he scratched at it with his nail it didn’t shift at all. He put that blade down feeling satisfied and picked up another blade, this one the first of a set of throwing knives, and continued enchanting.

Two hours later the door to the loft banged open and it broke Stiles’ concentration from the blade he was enchanting. The rest of the Pack was back. Stiles blinked slightly dazed from magic use and looked at the blade in his hand and then at the large pile of knives next to him and was stunned to realise that he had managed to enchant almost all the blades he had brought with him. He carefully put the blade down as he realised how hungry he was, especially when the aroma of the pizza’s that Erika and Isaac had carried in reached him. His stomach gurgled and he quickly started to pack up his supplies, deciding to leave the altar set up. He closed the protective circle quickly but carefully and then stood, as he wobbled on his feet he was quickly steadied by Peter, who had moved over to Stiles when had started to pack up.

Peter carefully guided his mate towards the food. He had been growing slightly concerned at Stiles’ complete concentration on his magic working, but his concern hadn’t reached the point when he would have felt the need to intervene. Now that Stiles was moving on his own Peter was going to make sure he was okay. He settled Stiles on a bar stool at the counter, growling at the Whittemore pup when he tried to take the stool. He filled a big glass of water for Stiles and handed it to him, Stiles drank the entire glass in one go. As Stiles looked at the pizza with intense hunger, Peter quickly handed him a piece of pizza to tide him over until Peter handed him a full plate of pizza.

“Thanks Peter.” Stiles muttered around a mouthful of pizza as he focused on the pizza and ate until he was full. When he had cleared the plate of pizza and looked up to see if there was any more, it was to the sight of a pack of confused teenage werewolves. 

“Magic use takes a lot of energy.” Derek answered their confusion at the amount and speed of consumption that Stiles had eaten his pizza.

Stiles nodded in agreement as he swallowed his last mouthful of pizza and accepted a glass of orange juice that Derek handed him. 

“What have you been doing?” Lydia demanded in shock.

“I’ve been enchanting weapons.” Stiles replied handing Peter his plate to be refilled. 

“What kind of weapons?” Danny asked curiously. “I didn’t think wolves needed weapons, considering the claws and teeth.”

“We’re not all werewolves, so I enchanted some knives for us to use.” Peter snorted at Stiles understatement.

“I don’t think that ‘some knives’ is an accurate description of that mountain.” Peter interjected, motioning at the pile of blades.

“Where on earth did you get all of those?” Erica asked as she took in all the blades.

“Mr Argent gave me most of them, in return he wants some for his men.” Stiles answered, “I thought that was reasonable.” He smirked slightly, “Especially since I enchanted them to be better and easier for beginners to use and nothing that can be used against us.”

The pack laughed at his trickery and Peter gave him a light kiss in reward, sure they trusted the hunter, but only so far.

* * * * *

Peter swore as lights flashed in his rear mirror. He looked over at Stiles who was laughing at him.

“I told you not to speed, I’m okay.” Stiles said, trying to stop laughing as the movement was making the slash on his arm bleed more and the pain ache sharply.

“You haven’t stopped bleeding since Derek sliced you up.” The growl in Peter’s voice let Stiles know that at some point the older wolf would be confronting their Alpha. The Pack had been training in the preserve, practising how they would work with each other when they were fighting as a Pack. Stiles had been on a team with Derek and Peter and during the spar had been tossed by Erica towards a tree in a sneak attack. Derek had caught him, but in the process his claws had sliced up Stiles’ arm. 

After looking at the cuts Derek had wrapped Stiles arm in his t-shirt and sent him off to the hospital as the cuts would need stitches. Peter had been completely focused on Stiles and so Derek had ordered the older wolf to drive Stiles.

Peter, growling at the delay, smoothly pulled over to the side of the road. The cruiser pulled in behind the cayenne and Stiles watched as the man got out of the cruiser. He covered his eyes with his unhurt arm as he recognised the walk of the man heading towards the car, this was going to be fun. Peter rolled down the window and shot Stiles an irritated look as he slumped down in his seat.

“Mr Hale, can you explain why you were doing 20 over the limit?” The sheriff looked amused as he leaned on the car. “And why my son in bleeding in the passenger seat?”

“Hi dad.” Stiles waved at his father sheepishly, using his unhurt arm.

“Your son needs to go to the hospital.” Peter growled irritated at the unconcern of the Sheriff.

“My son needs to go to the hospital regularly, I’m guessing he needs stitches?” The sheriff indicated towards the bleeding arm.

Stiles nodded, but Peter was getting increasingly irritated by casual behaviour of the man, “He’s bleeding and it hasn’t stopped.”

The sheriff looked at Peter and noticed just how worried the man was, “Peter, Stiles is fine. I’m guessing it’s deep and yes while it might not have stopped bleeding yet, has it slowed down?” He asked his son. 

Stiles nodded. “It’s sort of oozing now, rather than actively bleeding. It will probably only need a few stitches.” Stiles was also calm, his father was right he was used to hurting himself, as a child he had needed stitches often.

“So Peter take a deep breath and relax, Stiles would be letting you know very clearly if his arm needed urgent attention.” Peter nodded at the soothing tone, and took a deep breath. The sheriff was right, he could smell a little pain in Stiles’ scent but it was not overwhelming, like it had been in the preserve.

Stiles patted Peter comfortingly on the arm, he was used to these sort of things happening, but he had forgotten that Peter wasn’t. “Dad’s right Peter, I’m alright. We’ll go to the hospital, I’ll get some stitches and then you can take me home and fuss over me.”

Peter smiled at Stiles then looked at the Sheriff, who’s scent was clearly showing his gentle amusement at the two of them. “Well, now that’s all sorted. Here’s your ticket Peter, and I expect something with meat for dinner tonight.”

With that the man walked away, laughing at the curses and denials from his son.

“No meat for you dad, we’re watching your diet.”

* * * * *

Stiles and his father were alone in the house for once, the Pack members that normally lurked at the Stilinski house were all off doing something else. They were both in the living room, the sheriff in his chair watching the football game on the TV and Stiles sprawled off to the side on the floor practising his magic.

Stiles was trying to increase his control over his air magic, his aunt had suggest creating small illusions of animals or creatures because it required complete focus to manage to form the image, it also required a good knowledge of the animal that you were wanting to create. So Stiles had a book of animals to the side of him and was creating an illusion of a red fox, it had taken a few days of practise to get the fox image right, sometimes it had been the ears that were wrong, sometimes the legs, but he had managed to get it perfect today.

“Dad, have a look.” He called out and his father had a look.

“Wow Stiles is that a red fox?” 

“Uh huh, aunt Natalia suggested that this would be a good way of increasing my control of my air magic.” Stiles reached out and poked the illusion, which much to his surprise snapped at his finger and growled. He jerked his hand back.

“Was it supposed to do that?” His father asked warily.

“No, it was not.” Stiles drawled as he scooted away from the small fox, that was now moving and sniffing at the coffee table.

His father carefully lifted his feet off the table and down onto the floor in case he needed to make a quick get away, “Maybe you should turn it off.” He suggested.

Stiles swore at him, “I’m trying.” As he scooted away from the increasingly active fox. “But it’s like it doesn’t want to be sent away.”

“Stiles for goodness sake,” His father stated as he stood and moved towards the door and away from the yipping fox. “It’s an illusion, right?”

Stiles nodded as he joined his father’s retreat, “Well it’s not real then is it?” His father demanded.

“True,” Stiles agreed, “but it seems kind of real at the moment.”

His father realised that he needed to make the fox less real to Stiles, because he knew his son would be reluctant to get rid of a real animal. The fox leapt up onto the side table closest to them and the lamp on it wobbled, the sheriff and Stiles both watched cringing as the lamp slowly toppled over and landed with a smash.

“Look Stiles, it’s tail is see through.” He pointed out and his apparent confidence in his statement caused Stiles’ focus on the illusion to waver. The sheriff watched with relief as the tail faded, and then the fox gradually followed suit until it was completely gone. The sheriff pointed at the broken lamp, “You should clean that up now.

“But dad,” Stiles whined, “Magic. I should be rewarded.”

“Your reward is me not tell you off for breaking a lamp, tidy it up.” And with that the Sheriff casually left the room, heading to get a drink, wondering what he had done to deserve a son who could create live creatures that could destroy his house.

* * * * *

“I hate you.” Stiles complained as he gulped down his coffee. It was early in the morning, or well not that early, being that it was actually 9am. But on a Sunday.

“Really Stiles?” His father laughed, “Out of the goodness of my heart I’m taking you to the range today.”

“Ha.” Stiles exclaimed, narrowing his eyes at his father. Isaac was watching them carefully, still not quite sure of the dynamic between the two Stilinski’s. There was no anger in either of their scents, but instead there was amusement and contentment. 

“Why am I here if the two of you are going to the range?” Isaac questioned.

Both Stilinski’s looked at him startled, their heads tilting identically as they studied him.  
“Well obviously you’re coming with us.” Stiles stated giving him a strange look, “Why else would you be here?”

“I didn’t know that’s why I asked.” 

The Sheriff rolled his eyes, and Isaac noted that sometimes it was amazing just how alike the two Stilinski’s were. “Isaac, I invited you because I thought you might like to learn how to shoot.”

Isaac nodded, “I’d like that,” he slid a sneaky look at Stiles, “but are you sure it’s safe?”

“Huh?” Stiles asked.

“Well you with a gun is actually a somewhat terrifying thought.” Isaac grinned at the resulting protests of Stiles and the smile on the Sheriff’s face.

* * * * *

Once they were at the range Isaac watched with wide eyes as Stiles opened the case that he had loaded into Sheriff’s truck revealing a gun and some clips.

“Stiles,” the Sheriff looked concerned, “Please tell me you aren’t keeping the ammunition with your gun?”

“Huh,” Stiles looked up from the gun, “What? No. Of course not, you’ve taught me better than that. I just stuck some in there for transporting it here.” The Sheriff looked relieved. “Dad. I’ve grown up with you having a gun. I know how to be safe around them.” Stiles ran a hand through his hair and rolled his eyes, “Chris also gave me the gun safety lecture, when I swung by to get some bullets for you and get all the paperwork for the job done.”

“Job?” Isaac asked curiously, this was the first he had heard of Stiles getting a job.

“Oh right, you weren’t there for that.” Stiles smiled at him, “On my birthday dad and Chris got me this.” He picked up the gun and at his father’s pointed throat clearing put it back on the table with an eye roll, “It’s not loaded dad. Chris also offered me a job working for Argent International.”

Isaac studied him, “And there were no protests about you working for an Argent?” He asked sceptically.

The Sheriff snorted as he moved back to them, but Stiles ignored him, “Nah, it’s all good.”

“Right Stiles,” the Sheriff interrupted, “Before you spew anymore lies, you’re on lane one. Go and get comfortable with the new gun and we’ll see if you can finally beat my record.”

Stiles narrowed his eyes, “Challenge accepted.” 

Isaac watched as Stiles strode off towards the lanes, “Is he really that good?”

The Sheriff smiled and Isaac could read the pride in it, “Yeah, I suspect that if he spent a bit more time working on it he would be able to take part in the national shooting competitions.” He turned to face Isaac, “Right time for me to teach you. First thing we are going to cover is gun safety.”

When Isaac was finally standing in the lane actually starting to shoot he was surprised to see just how good Stiles was. When their targets came in Stiles’ shooting was almost perfect.

“Ha old man, I’m going to beat your record.” Stiles taunted.

“Are you going to be alright Isaac,” The Sheriff asked resting a hand on Isaac’s shoulder, “It looks like I have to teach my son a lesson.” Isaac nodded and watched with amusement as the two Stilinski’s starting bantering viciously.


	25. Chapter Twenty-Five

Stiles was standing in the loft staring at the map of Beacon Hills trying to connect all the information that the Pack and their allies had managed to gather over the few months. There was a pattern somewhere Stiles could feel it, but it was just out of reach.

“Stiles, come on you need a break.” Peter gently started to guide him away from the map.

“But I know it’s there somewhere. I just need to go over the information again.” Stiles squirmed and tried to head back to the map and the boards of notes he had set up. 

“No, enough Stiles.” Peter voice and hands were firm as he pushed Stiles into a bar stool in the kitchen then caged him in as Stiles tried to get away. Derek slapped down a plate in front of Stiles, who was immediately distracted by the bacon sandwich in front of him.

“Bacon?” He asked the two men looking at them suspiciously. “Are you distracting me?”

“Yes Stiles. We’re distracting you.” Derek’s voice was flat and Stiles’ eyed him, confused as to whether the werewolf was being serious or not, even as he took a bite of the sandwich.

Derek handed a plate to Peter, who slid into the stool next to Stiles, now that Stiles wasn’t trying to escape. Then Derek slid onto another stool and started his own sandwich.

“Stiles you need to take a break, I know you want to find them, but you’ve been working non-stop.” Stiles opened his mouth to protest but Derek cut him off with a growl. “You haven’t been sleeping, or eating and as your Alpha I’m putting my foot down. No more for the rest of the night.” 

Stiles scowled but didn’t protest, he had accepted Derek as he Alpha and therefore had to trust his judgement. So he bit violently into his sandwich keeping eye contact with Derek as he did so. Derek smirked at him and Stiles growled, the more time he spent with the wolves the more wolf-like his behaviour became, so neither Derek nor Peter were surprised, but Peter did reach out and place a gentle hand on his neck, so that he dropped his eyes submissively. They finished eating their sandwiches and Peter steered Stiles towards the stairs and up to Derek’s room, where Peter gently pushed Stiles onto the bed.

“Nap time I think.”

“I’m not tired, why do I need a nap. I should be working.” Stiles whined and wiggled in protest, but Peter effortlessly blocked his escape attempt, and lay down beside Stiles pinning his left side down. Derek soon joined him and pinned down Stiles’ other side.

Stiles wiggled but eventually settled down, “I’m still not tired, why can’t I be downstairs?”

“Stiles,” Peter sighed, “You’ve been working on this for two straight days, ever since we got the new information from Argent. You need to take a break and give your brain a chance to relax and process the information.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Stiles’ pouting mouth. It took a moment before Stiles began to kiss him back, but soon Stiles was actively involved in kissing Peter. Derek was enjoying watching Stiles reacting to the kisses, enjoying the moans and gasps that were being produced.

Derek slowly began running his hands down Stiles’ chest and then with Peter’s help they manoeuvred Stiles so that he was sitting straddling Peter’s hips. Derek settled in behind Stiles, his hands resting on Stiles hips, while Stiles continued to kiss Peter. Derek dipped his head to lay biting kisses along the back of Stiles’ neck and Stiles’ arched into them with a sigh. Peter dived in to kiss and nip at Stiles’ bared neck and Stiles’ fingers dug into his chest, kneading as he encouraged their kisses with moans and pleas.

Until suddenly Stiles stilled and both Derek and Peter pulled back slightly feeling that Stiles’ was no longer focused on their attentions. Abruptly Stiles scrambled off Peter, managing to somehow nail both men in the balls as he cried out, “I know where they are.”

After recovering they exchanged affectionate looks, both too used to the way Stiles’ mind works by now to be offended by him running off. They could hear him muttering downstairs and his markers scratching as he jotted down his realisation.

“Hurry up you two. You need to summon the Pack and Chris.” Stiles called impatiently from his work area. Derek and Peter rolled to their feet and headed downstairs.

“You call Argent.” Derek ordered. 

Peter scowled, he still hated the Argents, but even he had to admit that Chris was the best of the bunch. Privately he had to admit that he didn’t like most of the Pack any more than he did Chris, well except for Cora, Paige and possibly Isaac. So he flicked off a text to Chris letting him know that Stiles had figured out where the Alpha Pack was hiding. Chris sent a text back within minutes saying that he and two of his men would be at the loft in half an hour to start making a battle plan.

While he was doing that Derek had summoned the Pack, and Cora had appeared from the roof where she had been painting. That had been pleasant surprise for him and Derek. While she had been in South America Cora had begun painting and had built a large customer base who purchased her work. As a child she had never shown an interest in painting or any kind of art and had been far more interested in playing sports.

Within half an hour Chris, his two men and the Pack had gathered, minus Boyd who had sent his apologies because he was babysitting his younger siblings. Both Derek and Peter understood Boyd’s reasons and neither had any problems with his absence because both saw family as extremely important. The Sheriff and his two deputies that were in the know had also turned up, having been sent for by Stiles. 

Stiles had pinpointed the lair of the remaining Alpha Pack members and their suspected newly-made beta werewolves. Everyone had been keeping an eye for any missing persons, and listening to gossip for talk about people having sudden changes in behaviour. They had a list of 10 people who they suspected had been bitten, but there could easily be more or less.

Those at the meeting who had strategic skills (Derek, Peter, Stiles, Chris and the Sheriff) immediately dove into planning the upcoming assault. They discussed entry and exit points of the location which was an abandoned house that backed onto the preserve, where the ambush points and fall back positions would be, where reserves would be waiting, and everything else they could think of. The Sheriff was slightly worried about the different tactics that the two main groups used, the military nature of the planning by the hunters, and the slightly more wild approach of the wolves, but watched with pride as Stiles managed to work both approaches into the plan.

It took hours of planning and a food run by the younger werewolves before the group had a solid plan for the attack the next night.

* * * * *

Early the next night the leaders of the various groups got together to quickly go over the plan again. Chris Argent and his men were going to be coming in from the street sides of the house, the Pack would be coming in from the preserve side and the Sheriff and his men would be managing the public and keeping them away from the house where the confrontation was going to be happening. After running over the plan the all went off to their own groups to go over their members jobs.

Derek, Peter and Stiles met the Pack at Stiles’ house, as it was closer than the loft. There they separated the Pack into three teams; Danny, Lydia and Erica; Derek, Boyd, Jackson and Peter; and Stiles, Cora and Isaac.

Danny and Lydia would be acting as rear attackers, or distance attackers with their guns, and Erica would be guarding them. Derek, Boyd, Jackson and Peter would be the muscles or direct attackers and Stiles with Isaac and Cora as guards would be attacking with magic or gun depending on the circumstances. The humans were all armed with guns provided by Chris and enchanted knives provided by Stiles, and the entire Pack had protective amulets that Stiles had crafted for them. 

When it came time to move into position Stiles was wrapped in hugs by both Derek and Peter, with Peter holding him tightly.

“If I thought that there was any chance of you staying behind, I would beg you to stay out of the fight. But I know that is impossible so I will ask that you do anything to stay safe, I can’t lose another member of my family.” Peter spoke quietly into Stiles’ ear as they hugged. Stiles could hear the shakiness in Peter’s voice and knew that the man was terrified of losing him.

“I’ll be here at the end of the fight, and so will Derek and Cora. So Peter, I expect you to keep yourself safe for us.” Stiles pulled back from the embrace so that he could press a chaste but intense kiss to Peter’s mouth. Peter quirked a tight smile at him and followed Derek out of the clearing in a smooth lope heading for their entry point to the fight. Stiles watched with a steady gaze and then, with Isaac and Cora following, headed for the spot he had identified as the best place for him to wield his magic against the Alpha Pack.

Stiles and his guards had almost reached their position when they heard gunshots and knew the hunters had engaged the enemy. Stiles ran slightly faster and slid into the clear spot he had chosen. It was a small clearing on the border of the preserve, that gave him a clear view of the house the Alpha’s had chosen as their base and its surroundings. As soon as he got there he flung out the handful of mountain ash he had brought with him and cast it in a circle around him. Isaac and Cora melted into the surrounding trees to better protect him if he needed it. And it was just in time.

Stiles narrowed his eyes at the three approaching wolves, all of them beta’s, all of them with the blue eyes that indicated that they had killed an innocent. The two largest were men, both bulky and covered in tattoo’s, whom Stiles recognised as members of a gang that his father had broken up the year before in a big drug bust. The third was Kelly Thompson who had graduated from high school the year before. She had been a top student with a full ride to Harvard, well until she had gotten pregnant in the last term of school to her father’s married business partner and been thrown out of home. Stiles narrowed his eyes at her behaviour, she was behind the two other werewolves and looked rather reluctant to even be there, and he wondered if she had been forcibly changed. 

When she spotted Stiles, his theory was strengthened as she stopped her eyes widened and she started looking for a way out. 

“Watch out Stiles.” Her cry caused the two male wolves to growl angrily and speed up their attack on the apparently unarmed young man.

Stiles focused on the two attacking wolves as they approached, and used his magic to create a strong gust of icy cold wind that slammed into them. Both wolves stumbled, but only one fell. Stiles focused his magic to pin down the fallen wolf just long enough for Cora to dart across the clearing, slashing his throat open without pausing on her way past. Kelly skidded to a halt stopping her dash to defend Stiles, sliding back into the shadows as she watched with wide eyes when the second werewolf ran directly into Isaac’s ambush.

As the werewolf passed Isaac’s position, Isaac lashed out with claws slashing at the back of his leg. The wolf stumbled as his leg muscle was slashed and Isaac leapt at him, but he wasn’t going to as easy kill as the first werewolf and he managed to recover enough so that Isaac’s leap missed. They circled each other, the enemy wolf using brute strength to slash at Isaac, who used his nimbleness and speed to dodge the attacks, both soon had wounds and Stiles worried about Isaac who had managed to dodge most attacks but had been hit by at least one. Isaac’s arm was bleeding heavily and it wasn’t responding as well as it should so Stiles thought that the attack had probably damaged muscle.

On the positive side many of Isaac’s attacks had landed on the other wolf and he had numerous small cuts littering his upper body. Stiles could see that he was growing tired the longer the two of them fought and when the wolf stumbled Isaac moved lightning fast and tore out his throat with his claws.

“You alright Isaac?” Stiles questioned even as he continued to scan for more enemy.

“Of course Stiles.” Isaac scoffed and Stiles raised an eyebrow as he licked his claws.

“That can’t possibly be healthy.”

“Eh.” Isaac shrugged as her moved to Stiles’ shoulder as Cora herded Kelly towards them.

“Stiles? What’s going on? Are you okay?” Kelly asked, her voice unsteady and terrified as she stood in front of Stiles.

“I’m fine Kelly, are you okay?” Stiles asked in concern.

“No.” Kelly started to sob. “I got grabbed by those two assholes two days ago, and then this black woman bit me and I turned into a monster and got told I was going to have to kill, or be killed. Stiles I can’t be killed Nora needs me.”

“Nora?” Cora enquired flatly.

“My daughter, she’s only a few months old and I left her with my neighbour two days ago and I have no idea if she’s alright.” Kelly answer was really difficult to understand through her crying. Cora and Isaac looked at Stiles, knowing that it was his decision to make.

“Right, for now I need you to stand here,” Stiles moved to the side of the clearing and nudged Kelly to stand by a tree and created a mountain ash circle around her. “You won’t be able to leave the circle, but no one will be able to attack you either. Once this is all over we can figure out what to do then. Okay?”

Kelly nodded and sunk down so she was sitting against the trunk of the tree and her sobs quieted.

“Can I ask you some questions?” Stiles asked gently, crouching in front on her. Kelly nodded. “Right how many people were there in the house?”

Kelly closed her eyes, “Fifteen, including the three of us and the two in charge.”

“Are anymore of them like you? Unwilling?”

Kelly shook her head, “No, they all seemed really happy to be there. Yesterday they were all boasting that they were going to be powerful and rich soon and that everyone would be afraid of them.” She hugged her knees to her chest, “But the black woman and the blind guy, I don’t think that was their plan.”

“You’re right, that’s definitely not their plan.” Stiles nodded and stood, flicking off texts with the information to Chris, Lydia, Danny, his father and Peter, letting them know at the same that they had taken out three. Chris replied that his men had taken out four, and Lydia replied they had got one and Stiles didn’t get a reply from his dad or Peter, not that he expected one.

Cora growled and Stiles turned to see Kali casually stroll from the trees at the edge of the clearing. Cora quickly followed by Isaac shifted into their beta forms and positioned themselves in front of Stiles.

Kali laughed, “Oh how sweet. Two itty-bitty wolves to protect their Alpha’s mate.”

Isaac and Cora exchanged looks, well aware that Stiles wasn’t Derek’s mate but Peter’s. Stiles just laughed, both could feel the bite of ice in it.

“Oh Kali, is that really what you think.” His voice was patronising.

Kali stilled for a moment, confused at Stiles’ response. “What else could you be?” She sneered, “Either you’re his mate or his fuck toy.”

“His mate died.” Stiles replied. “He killed her.” Cora was surprised by the comment. She had known that Paige had died, but hadn’t known the circumstances and definitely hadn’t known that piece of information. She was stunned that Stiles would allow such knowledge to be spread outside the Pack, that was not something that would encourage positive interactions with other Packs. It would make them view Derek with suspicion, for a wolf that would kill their mate would be hard to predict and trust.

Kali let out a delighted laugh, “Oh how precious, maybe we should have asked him to join the Alpha Pack then.”

Stiles tilted his head and just looked at her. A curl of uneasiness whispered through Kali, this boy was not what she expected, was not reacting like he was supposed to. She ignored the two fiercely growling wolves standing protectively in front of the boy and studied him closely. His body language was relaxed, almost unconcerned and his eyes were dark, almost black and a shiver ran down her spine, his scent was empty of fear, of terror. She didn’t understand, he should be afraid for his life and that of the rest of his Pack, mongrel’s that they were.

“And I guess these are two of those mongrels, one I recognise as a Hale, but the other must be a bitten wolf.” Her disdain was clear in her tone. Cora growled, and Stiles was unsurprised to see her leap at Kali.

Kali casually back handed her and Cora flew across the clearing and slammed into a tree with a grunt. Isaac followed Cora’s lead, but his attack was a bit more planned and he managed to open a slash on her chest before he too was sent flying across the clearing, slamming into the rising Cora and tumbling them both to the ground.

Stiles was standing in the same position, still relaxed and it made Kali growl in anger, this human should be terrified. “I’m going to enjoy tearing you apart, human.” She snarled and began to move across the clearing. Cora and Isaac had managed to untangle themselves and Cora leapt for her chest while Isaac tackled her legs out from underneath her. For many minutes the three wolves were a mass of snarling. Stiles could see that all three were landing hits on each other, and tilted his head in interest as Isaac managed to slash open Kali’s throat. 

But the slash healed within moments and Kali quickly gained the upper hand slamming the two younger wolves heads together and then throwing their unconscious bodies to opposite sides of the clearing. She rose from her crouch with predatory grace, there was blood splattered across her face and claws lending an element of monstrousness to her appearance.

“Looks like it’s just the two of us now, human.” The words were distorted from the fangs present in her mouth.

Stiles cocked his head, “True, but that’s how I would prefer it.” He laughed and it was full of menace and darkness, “For you see I don’t want my Pack to be afraid of me.”

Kelly shrunk to the ground hoping that the both of them had forgotten about her, and sighed a breath of relief as it seemed the two of them were perfectly content to ignore her.

“Werewolves afraid of a human?” She scoffed, as if that was a ridiculous idea and Stiles wondered just how much this woman knew of the supernatural world.

He stayed silent and just watched her, head cocked to the side.

She prowled in front of him, not attacking but trying to intimidate. “What reason could they possibly have to fear a human?” She stilled and looked him up and down, as if trying to figure it out. But she could find nothing in this teenage boy, he was not physically intimidating, nor was he a druid with magical powers. “A weak pathetic human child.” She missed the temperature in the clearing drop, missed the ice spiralling out from where Stiles’ feet were touching the ground. “You don’t even look like you’d be any fun in bed either, I don’t know what Hale sees in you.”

“Which Hale?” Stiles queried in a light tone.

“What do you mean ‘which Hale’?” Kali looked confused.

“Well I’m wondering if you are talking about Derek Hale, my Alpha, or Peter Hale, my Mate.” His voice was still light, but there was something cold in it, and Kali’s confusion grew. She ignored the sliver of unease that flickered through her at the mention that Peter Hale was his mate. She had heard of Peter, all werewolves had, an enforcer at age 21 in one of the strongest Packs in the United States, she had even heard rumours that the wolf had dabbled enough in magic to be able to resurrect himself after his murder. His mate would be his equal, would be just as strong, as ruthless as him. This boy could not possibly be his mate.

She barked at harsh laugh at the human, “Human, stop your lies. Peter Hale can’t be your mate, you are not nearly strong enough to be his equal.”

Stiles quirked his lips, “Did you hear a lie in my words?”

She snarled and without any further words leapt at Stiles, who swayed out of her way. She spun and lashed out with her feet, Stiles just barely managing to avoid being sliced open by her toe claws. They danced like this for a while, Stiles ducking and diving out of her way. Cora and Isaac both had woken by this point and wanted to leap in to defend Stiles, but soon it became clear that Stiles had a plan. Every movement left a trail of ice in his wake, and both betas could see a pattern emerging. The longer it went on the more detail the pattern gained. The pattern tugged on Cora’s memory, she recognised it from a book she had seen laying open on the table that Stiles had claimed in the loft.

She gasped as she remembered its purpose, it was called a soul trap and it was necromantic magic. She watched with wide eyes as the friendly boy she was friends with, that her brother and uncle loved, danced a pattern of death around the oblivious werewolf. Isaac didn’t know what was going on but recognised it as dangerous, he edged his way around the clearing to where the terrified werewolf was curled up in the mountain ash circle and crouched down. 

Cora moved to around to join the two other betas, but watched with fascinated eyes as Stiles danced and played with the Alpha.

Stiles was getting tired and could feel sweat dripping down his spine, but he was almost done. He could feel his magic tightening and settling into the pattern he had drawn with his movements. But this had a price, his movements were slowing down as his body tired from the strain of using his magic as he was. Kali’s strikes were beginning to hit him and open up small cuts over his body.

The Alpha laughed, “Poor human. Are you getting tired?” She mocked. Stiles paid her no mind as he wove the final part of the pattern. He could feel his magic draining out of him with every step powering the pattern, and he gasped in exhaustion as he took the final step of the pattern. 

His body jerked and he fell to his knees as the pattern activated, his magic drained. Kali grinned in triumph as the human fell to his knees in front of her, how easy was he making it for her to kill him. She laughed as she stood poised over him, and took in the huddled postures of two of the betas at the side of the clearing. However she frowned slightly at the awed expression on the Hale girl’s face.

Her feet tingled and she looked down to see ice creeping up her ankles. She frowned and shook her foot, trying to get the ice off. However it would not be budged, and her eyes widened as she noticed the icy pattern all around her. She shivered as the air cooled, and the ice continued to grow up her legs. She snarled and finally looked at the boy kneeling in front of her.  
“What have you done?” She demanded.

“Magic.” She could feel her strength leaving her and snarled. “I have done magic.” He laughed, a bright and happy sound completely out of place in the cold, dread-filled clearing. It was icy and Kali could see her breath, the shadows were deepening with every breath she released, until it was almost like they were reaching for her.

“What are you?” She asked, her snarl not covering her building fear.

He straightened from his kneeling position, and climbed gracefully to his feet. There was something inhuman in the way he moved, something that triggered her primal fear.  
“I am death and I am life. I am fear and I am delight. I am retribution and I am justice.”

Her legs crumpled out from underneath her and she cried out in fear. “But for now, for you I am the guide.” His voice was deep and touched the darkest part of her heart, where her deepest fear lay. “I am the light that will guide those who seek balance and redress for your wrongs.” The shadows seemed to reach for her and she shuddered in fear, she could see faces in the shadows, faces of those she had killed.

“No please, please don’t do this.” She begged the creature standing in front of her, for he could not be human, no human could wield this power. “I will never kill again, please spare me.”

The boy looked at her with eyes as black as night, and spoke in a voice that made her cry, made her see that there was nothing she could do, nothing she could say to prevent her fate. “No.”

Cora watched in awe as the shadows reared up and swirled through the icy pattern that Stiles had woven, all heading straight for the sobbing werewolf kneeling in the centre of the pattern. This was magic beyond what she had ever imagined, beyond what she had ever dreamed of. She knew she should be terrified of Stiles and his ability to wield this magic, but all she could feel was pride in her pack mate, pride that he loved the Pack enough to do this, pride that he was willing to pay the price, for all magic has a price.

Isaac and Kelly missed all of this as they had passed out when the magic in the clearing had started to build to its crescendo.

Stiles stood calm as the shadows twined around him, before they headed for the sobbing werewolf. They circled, brushing against her like ribbons, like silk, until they swirled into a single black ribbon and slid through her chest. She screamed in agony as the shadows reclaimed their power, as they shared their pain, their terror and their despair with her. It felt like an eternity, but in reality it was only minutes until the shadow ribbon exited her and separated. Each shadow danced in the clearing in joy and as they did so the cold disappeared, the ice melted and the sun began to retake the clearing and each of the shadows slowly dissipated leaving behind laughter and happiness.

Cora sighed at the beauty of it, at the peace those souls had gained. She looked at the defeated werewolf kneeling in the clearing and could only feel pity, all her anger at the woman was gone. She watched as Stiles drew a dagger from its sheath on his hip and moved smoothly towards the woman. He reached her and with a casual hand grasped her hair and tilted her head back so he could meet her eyes, “I am relief and I am freedom.” With those words he drew his blade across her throat and Kali died without a whisper of protest.

Stiles stood there for a long moment, before he abruptly fell to his knees exhausted. Cora moved like lightning to halt his fall, ending up kneeling on the ground cradling Stiles’ body in her arms.

“Cora.” He whispered, “I’m sorry you had to see that. I never want you to fear me.”

Cora pressed a light kiss to his sweaty forehead, “Oh Stiles. I could never fear you, you are too devoted to the Pack for me to worry about my safety.” Stiles smiled in relief as he slipped into and exhausted sleep, missing the excitement of Derek and Deucalion tumbling into the clearing in a mess of claws and teeth, missing the victorious howl that Derek gave after tearing out Deucalion’s throat, and the echoing howls from the rest of the Pack at their victory over the Alpha Pack.

* * * * *

When Stiles woke it was dark in his room, and his bed was full of werewolves. He desperately needed to pee so he wiggled free of the tight grasp Peter had on him and crawled over Cora and Derek, and slid gracelessly to the floor before he staggered to his feet and headed for the bathroom. When he had relieved himself and washed his hands and face he stepped into the hallway planning to head back to his room, but came to an abrupt halt at the sight of three werewolves and his dad.

“Hi?” His voice was question.

“Kiddo.” His dad’s voice was relieved, and he wrapped Stiles up in a tight hug. “I’m glad to see you awake.” He released Stiles from his hug and then whacked him around the back of the head, “Don’t ever do that again.”

“Ok.” Stiles agreed, kind of confused about why his dad was so happy to see him awake.

Cora rolled her eyes at his confusion and hugged him tightly scenting him, “You’ve been asleep for a week you dope.”

“Ohhh.” Stiles acknowledged sheepishly “Really?”

Peter shook his head, “Yes Stiles a week. Your aunt said that after using your magic like you did you would need rest, but none of us expected it to be a week.” Peter wrapped himself around Stiles, making sure to rub his face against Stiles neck to scent mark him.

“I knew I would be tired if I had to use the spell, but I didn’t realise it would be quite so bad.” Stiles apologised.

“Don’t do it again.” Derek ordered as he pushed Peter out of the way so he could hug Stiles for himself. Peter pouted and growled as his place was taken, then immediately latched back onto Stiles as Derek released him.

“I’ll try not to.” Stiles’ dad rolled his eyes at the typical Stiles reply.

“Are you hungry?” He asked, and Stiles’ stomach replied by growling.

“Yesss.” Stiles hissed, as he headed for the stairs. The question had abruptly reminded him that he had been asleep for a week, “But I’m not nearly as hungry as I should be after sleeping for a week?”

Cora snorted, “Yeah, you kind of did this zombie thing, where roughly every eight hours or so, you would head for the kitchen and eat whatever you could find.”

Stiles narrowed his eyes at her, “You lie.”

“Unfortunately not.” Stiles could hear his father rolling his eyes.

“What do you mean ‘unfortunately’?” He demanded as he scampered after his father down the stairs.

“Somebody put you to bed without any clothes on.”

“You mean I was naked?” Stiles squawked.

“Yes, butt naked and the entire Pack got a nice view.” Derek answered wryly.

“I feel violated.” Stiles complained, then spun to narrow his eyes at his mate, “Why would you put me to bed naked?”

“I wasn’t the one who put you to bed.” Peter’s voice was empty of expression, but he narrowed his eyes at Derek.

“Well it wasn’t like I expected you to get up and walk around.” Derek sounded a little sheepish.

“So everyone is alright then?” The mention of the rest of the Pack had reminded Stiles to ask about their condition. He couldn’t feel any missing Pack bonds, so he was sure that no one had died, but didn’t know about any injuries.

“To my grateful thanks, no one was seriously injured.” His father answered as he dug around in the fridge. “In fact our side had no fatalities or major injuries, the worst was one of Chris’ men who managed to fall off the second floor balcony after the action was all over and break his leg. It was something I would expect of you, but not a trained adult.”

Stiles was pouting as he slid onto a bar stool in the kitchen accepting the sandwich his father placed in front of him. “Did you have this prepared?” He asked suspiciously as he bit into it, watching as his father pulled out more sandwiches and the wolves dug in.

“I prepared a number of them in preparation for the next time you ‘zombie’d,” His father replied, using bunny ears to emphasis the zombie phrase.

Stiles finished the first sandwich and started on a second without pausing. Derek finished his own and then stood from the stool he was sitting in. He strode over to the fridge and pulled the door open, Stiles watched with curiosity as his Alpha began to pull things out of it and place them on the bench. Eggs, cheese, milk and a variety of vegetables and cut meat.

“Omelette?” He asked Stiles who nodded enthusiastically, now onto his fifth sandwich.

“Ham? Cheese? Mushroom? Capsicum?” Stiles was nodding to each of the ingredients Derek listed and watched with interest as the werewolf went about mixing up an omelette for him. He could hear his father, Cora and Peter talking but his focus was on the wolf cooking for him. Derek looked up a few times in response to the intense stare on him, and just went back to cooking with a small smile.

When Derek place the cooked omelette in front of Stiles, he immediately dug in, after a mumbled thank you to Derek. His pornographic moans of enjoyment made his father and Cora laugh, while Peter frowned a little at not being the focus of those noises. Derek’s ears flushed red, but otherwise he didn’t react except to begin cooking another omelette, knowing that if Stiles didn’t eat it one of the others would.

Three omelette’s later Stiles was sated and heavy eyed and accepted Peter’s gentle guidance into the living room. They were joined by the rest of the Pack, who had drifted in while Stiles was devouring the omelettes, each taking the time to hug and scent Stiles while he was eating. Derek settled into the couch next to Peter, and Stiles sprawled lazily across the two older werewolves. Cora sat on the floor her back leaning against couch, and she purred lightly as Stiles’ hand dropped to her head and began to play with her hair and the rest of the Pack sprawled out across the living room. The only one missing was Paige, and that was soon sorted by her joining them via Skype. Stiles’ father popped a DVD into the player and settled into his own chair with a sigh of contentment.

Stiles smiled sleepily, happy to be surrounded by his family and laughed as the familiar music started.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it comes to an end. An epic journey started in November 2015, that took a year to complete. I'm glad it's over and I'm so proud of my self for managing to complete my first long story. Thank you so much for reading my writing.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is the first long story I've ever managed to complete, and I will be posting chapters regularly. Please feel free to review and leave constructive criticism (for those that don't know what that means if you don't like something, explain why. If you think some thing could be better, explain how etc.)


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